Scotland Smoking Ban

[Loosehead]

Anyone in Scotland, what's it like? are there masses of downtrodden smokers huddling in groups outside the bars?

[sixpence]

Am I right in thinking that it used to be perfectly acceptable to have spittoons in pubs, so that tobacco chewers could spit to get rid of the juice? Yeuk!

I suppose one day we will look back in horror at the thought of people actually smoking in pubs.

[Drisgirl]

Well sixpence I cannot believe I used to sit at my desk in the office and smoke.I think you have made a very valid point.

I also have to agree with neds continuing campaign at promoting the very serious health issues which in the main are being swerved by smokers.I'm with you all the way.

[pilotlight]

sixpence, you are quite correct. When my wife was a child, one of her " jobs " at her grandma's pub was to empty and clean out these spitoons.---- yuk !

[kick3m0n]

great points sixpence. I think you're spot on. For example, I can't believe that everyone used to drive around without seatbelts, and that baby car seats are a relatively new invention. Yet this is all within my lifetime. My parents used to smoke with my brother and I in the car....but I find that idea so utterly repulsive now I have my own child, that I can't actually believe they did this. To be fair, neither can they.

We learn, we develop, we live longer. Can't see how this is a bad thing at all.

[Pearla]

#

Does anyone think that this ban is a red herring? because if the government is so concerned about peoples all they have to do is pass a law banning the import of tobacco.

[Tartan Tiger]

It is magic.

I used to hate people smoking in restaurants - now it's a thing of the past!

[kick3m0n]

no, I think a prohibition style approach maybe one step towards the nanny state too far, even for the most indulgent of us.

[nedflanders]

pearla - they still want the Tax though!

[Drisgirl]

Pearla - they can still pollute their own homes:)

I dont see why anyone would think promoting health education for people who smoke and dont smoke and for the young people coming up would be a red herring.

Its serious - I lost one of my dearest pals at the age of 59 a year and a half ago -(I was his babysitter as it happens) and he gave up 12 yrs before he died - of lung cancer.

I hope and pray I havent left it too late.

[aeu99217]

what has happened is an empowered minority ruling over a majority, within the interested parties. If thier was such a demand for non-smoking pubs, the market would have taken care of it itself and someone would have exploited that gap. But that is not the case. So now on sauchiehall st etc the volume of people on the street will double. Think, drunk glaswegians mixing even more on the streets. Next weekend will be a blood bath. Well done MCconnel u small little man.

[Drisgirl]

Well folks I have just came back from the Pub Quiz and not one one word was said and no-one was in the slightest bothered.Usually you cant see for the reek but folk just dawndered out at their will had a few puffs and came back in without comment from anyone.I.m mega impressed and I managed to keep my mouth shut:)

[Drisgirl]

aeu - I was gonna ignore your comment but as usual I have to have my say.

I am assuming you are from Glasgow in order to come out with such a knowledgable observation of the Glaswegian people.

Its nothing do do with minority empowering the majority.Almost 70% of the adult population in Scotland are non-smokers - so put that in your pipe and smoke it:)

Google the Scottish Executives site on smoking and it makes sickening reading re passive smoking and the effects it has on children in their own homes not withstanding what the horrific damage it does to people who do smoke (my husband and daughter smoke so I am not on a one woman crusade).

Please dont belittle Glasgow - its a wonderful place with fantastic people and comments like you have made undo a lot of good:)

[fideldyfee]

Yes, Loosehead and its great, in my opinion. Instead of smoking inside the pub, they are all huddled round the door in a cloud of smoke. Like Des Clark said on Offside the other night "Its like stars in their eyes, i went in a non-smoker and came out Chris de Burgh!".

[bloodycheap]

So when do we ban unleaded petrol, diesel, household and industrial cleaning products, nuclear power stations, mobile phones, electricity pylons and many foods to name but a few? Smokers are the scapegoats for societies problems.

[aeu99217]

drisgirl, if you read what i said i did not mention the entire population of scotland. I referred to the 'interested parties'. ie people who frequent pubs. If their was such a massive demand for non-smoking pubs, the market would cater for it, or are u suggesting Scottish entrepreneurs don't have the business foresight. As for children and smoke. Where do you think the deidcated 60 a day smoker is going to puff away? in the door way of a pub on a freezing wet night? or in the family home?

as for belittling my home, i assure u there are more good people in this city then bad. But unfortunately the bad (esp. when drunk) force u to notice them more- I worked in pubs in glasgow for 3 years. I am for banning smoking everywhere, except pubs, or have a limited number of licensed for-smoking pubs.

Smoking hit the trade in New York by some estimates up to 70%; off-sales in Ireland rocketed. In the 4 pubs i've worked in none of the regulars, including non-smokers, wanted the ban. these are the people who support local businesses and these are who some sort of accomodation should have been made for.

[Drisgirl]

Well aeu - we'll just have to suck it and see - so to speak:)

Glad I spoke up for you and your fellow weegies - love em - salt of the earth:)

[aeu99217]

I hope i am wrong, but i do fear the weekend will be even more violent than normal. Any big city has trouble with drunk people. The ban is just going to have more drunk people mixing on the streets and in my experience drunk people don't get into fights in bars, because of the geneeral social restraint that comes from being inside, but rather outside when the fresh air hits them and they don't feel any authorative restraint that bar staff and door men provide.

[Johnlfg]

As a smoker myself, i'm getting a bit annoyed with the way it seems to be acceptable to talk about smokers like we are the scum of the earth. We don't want to "inflict" our smoke on other people, as a matter of fact, we just want somewhere to go and enjoy a cigarette without bothering anyone else. That place used to be the pub...

The thing that annoys me is, the reason we can't have somewhere to go and smoke is that if we do have somewhere like that, non-smokers would just go anyway then start complaining about the smoke!

I think the perfect solution would be to require pubs to have a smoking licence, similar to the way they need a licence to sell alcohol. To get this smoking licence they would have to have at least 50% of the pub as non-smoking and the smoking section would have to be suitably sectioned off, ie no smoke at all reaching the non smoking section. If they were found to breach these criteria then they would lose their smoking licence.

[Drisgirl]

John - I think your last paragraph would suit most.Its basically the equivelant of whats happening but you would have somewhere inside to have your fag.Good compromise and I'm a non smoker!

[aeu99217]

drisgirl that is not what is happening. i don't know what the weather is like where u live but in glasgow it is cold, and rains. a lot. u also can not drink outside. so John is right. smokers can no longer go somewhere to enjoy a cigarette without bothering anyone else. and his point about non-smokers following is true. if non-smokers don't like smokey pubs they should drink in non-smoking pubs! The perfect solution! They have a similar situation in Barcelona, but unfortunately health is the only area of true authority the scottish parliament has hence the out right ban. and he is also an ex-smoker, the most rightous than thou, when it comes to smoking.

Sitting at a bar, enjoying a pint with a wee glenmorangie chaser, and smoking a drum rollie. My idea of a relaxing night. Spoiled by a nanny state, its almost enough to make you vote Tory!!