A flying visit. I'm currently in Wales where the notion of banning smoking in private cars is being laughed at every time I mention it.
"They can't ban it in private cars," they say.
"They've banned it in private clubs," I reply. Then the laughing stops.
In Email (which I haven't yet responded to) there is a message from someone in Yorkshire who has just seen the 'take seven steps outside' campaign which is on the way to a ban in people's own homes. That one has been on the go for a while.
There is a common thread here. Those of us, like me, who are on the lookout for these new bans, spot them at once. Oh, they are announced, then they go quiet, then they are implemented, and when people object they hear "What? We announced that ages ago and nobody complained." Eighty percent of people are non-smokers and have no reason to even notice these bans. That, in the Righteous mind, translates to eighty percent support. Really, it's eighty percent don't-care but reality and Righteousness have never been even close.
What they don't do is make their plans clear to the people in the affected area. Unless those people are looking out for these new schemes they won't see them, and let's be honest, most people are not looking.
So here in Wales, hardly anyone knows about the impending ban on smoking in cars. Those that do, believe it will really only apply to cars with children. A quick mention of the current ban 'only applying to pubs that served food' soon pours water on that delusion.
Look out for the bans coming to your town, because they are. They will be announced but only nationally, not locally, and you won't find them unless you are looking for them. I'm not just talking about smoking either. It's gone way beyond that now.
Okay, I have to get back to the real reason I'm here (work by day, drink by night and it's night now, ie the important part). I'm also trying hard to get a good photo of 'sunset over coal tip' because it would be funny.
I will try to keep up with comments and release those caught by Blogger's spam monster (No, I do not censor comments) but I am having to use a laptop keyboard and it's dreadful. If I can, I'll get a USB one to plug in. And a proper mouse. Oh, and I will get to those Emails. I'm not ignoring you all, just having to log into every damn account separately because this isn't my machine and I'm typing like a Stuka because the keys have this wide lump of plastic in front of them.
For now, I have a 12-year-old called Glenfiddich demanding my attention. I plan to pull his head off and suck out his innards.
Until that simple pleasure is banned also.
"They can't ban it in private cars," they say.
"They've banned it in private clubs," I reply. Then the laughing stops.
In Email (which I haven't yet responded to) there is a message from someone in Yorkshire who has just seen the 'take seven steps outside' campaign which is on the way to a ban in people's own homes. That one has been on the go for a while.
There is a common thread here. Those of us, like me, who are on the lookout for these new bans, spot them at once. Oh, they are announced, then they go quiet, then they are implemented, and when people object they hear "What? We announced that ages ago and nobody complained." Eighty percent of people are non-smokers and have no reason to even notice these bans. That, in the Righteous mind, translates to eighty percent support. Really, it's eighty percent don't-care but reality and Righteousness have never been even close.
What they don't do is make their plans clear to the people in the affected area. Unless those people are looking out for these new schemes they won't see them, and let's be honest, most people are not looking.
So here in Wales, hardly anyone knows about the impending ban on smoking in cars. Those that do, believe it will really only apply to cars with children. A quick mention of the current ban 'only applying to pubs that served food' soon pours water on that delusion.
Look out for the bans coming to your town, because they are. They will be announced but only nationally, not locally, and you won't find them unless you are looking for them. I'm not just talking about smoking either. It's gone way beyond that now.
Okay, I have to get back to the real reason I'm here (work by day, drink by night and it's night now, ie the important part). I'm also trying hard to get a good photo of 'sunset over coal tip' because it would be funny.
I will try to keep up with comments and release those caught by Blogger's spam monster (No, I do not censor comments) but I am having to use a laptop keyboard and it's dreadful. If I can, I'll get a USB one to plug in. And a proper mouse. Oh, and I will get to those Emails. I'm not ignoring you all, just having to log into every damn account separately because this isn't my machine and I'm typing like a Stuka because the keys have this wide lump of plastic in front of them.
For now, I have a 12-year-old called Glenfiddich demanding my attention. I plan to pull his head off and suck out his innards.
Until that simple pleasure is banned also.
5 comments:
I thought the figure for people who stubbornly refuse to give up smoking was 25%.
And that does not include the small but significant percentage who when confronted by a clipboard automatically tell the holder what the research team wants to hear.
The figures given by ASH are just made up, and include their troll 'smokers' who were delighted to be banned.
Clipboard questions are often designed so that any dissent makes you look like someone who dismembers cats, stubs out cigarettes in babies' eyes and beats up pensioners.
Oh, and people are suckers for a well-crafted lie.
It's not true that '80% don't care'. At the #stonystandoff, for example, there were many non-smokers. We care about your rights, because they are our rights too (whether we choose to exercise them or not).
I find that also Tom. Those who hate us and want to ban us from life really are in a tiny minority but they have a very loud and well paid for voice. We can only wait for a fair govt to come in and see what's really going on here. Until then we can only keep on shouting and you do it so well - it must be the lyrical Welsh in you driven by the passion of the Italian side :>)
Tom- I'd suggest the 'don't care' part was only there at the start of the ban. As it's progressed, more and more non-smokers can see where it's going. It's not just about smoking any more. It never really was.
The dedicated smokophobes are fewer in number than the smokers. Yet they are running the show.
Pat - the Italian temper can be hard to control, so sometimes I don't bother ;)
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