UK Smoking Ban or Beagle Persecution?

Oh an up to date, current affairs blog entry - now that's a first!

It's all to do with a bill passed late last night on the possibilty of a total smoking ban in public places, see the bbc news pages for more details.

Ok it won't be implemented until the summer of 2007, but at last our government has made a good decision (in my view) - they quite like banning stuff actually, like fox hunting. Oh hang on I think they must have it in for Beagles. As when the fox hunting ban came in it left a lot of Beagles with nothing to do, so it was back to the lab for a cigarette (rather than running around in the fresh air). What are they going to do now that smoking is banned? Turn to street crime probably and collect as many ASBO's as possible! Aargh the end is nigh, old age pensioners terrorized by packs of marauding Beagles!

So is the ban a good thing? Look at it this way, we are in the middle of a pension crisis with people living too long for the system to cope, so maybe a kind of backdoor population cull via smoking is still needed? Also you have to be pretty stupid/weak willed etc to smoke, and as smoking lowers your fertility it could mean fewer stupid people - a kind of Natural selection process - weed out the weak!

I still think it's a good idea, as I like to go out and the fact that a lot of the time I have to do it in an unhealthy and unpleasant atmosphere (coming home stinking of fags), can only be a good thing for us non-smokers. Maybe this will spring up some kind of "speak easy" joints like in the days of prohibition in the US - I have no problem with this as long as all the staff hired are smokers too.

One thing I heard a while back was some smoker harping on about the fact that basically they are keeping the NHS, schools etc going by all the tax they pay on the humble packet of twenty, and that he has always paid N.I. (National Insurance). So he should be first in line for heart transplants. My views on that are "So what?" It's completely your choice to smoke, you know the risks, get used to it! Don't expect any special favours just because you've paid in more to the system - what about the high earners paying more in tax and N.I. each year - surely they should get preferential treatment too then (oh hang on they can afford to fork out even more on private health care!).

Anyway N.I. is insurance after all, by that token shouldn't smokers, racing drivers, lion tamers pay a higher premium? If I went to an Insurance salesman and asked for parachute insurance and told them that I liked to do it without a parachute. Yes I know their is a high fatality risk (just like smokers). He'd laugh in my face and tell me to politely p*** off.

Corr, that when on a bit, so much for Bloggers Block today, that was a right old rant!


Beware the Beagle with time on it's hands PM Blair