Smoking Ban in the UK
Following the Irish example, the MPs have voted yesterday the smoking ban in English pubs and clubs. NI and Scotland had already approved a similar bill, and Wales is “to decide for itself whether to implement a ban it has already twice approved in principle”. Funny considering that I was sitting down in a pub with an English block and his Welsh wife, and they were telling me that there was no way such ban could be introduced in the UK. I had also been really struck by the fact that some cleaners in Heathrow airport have to go into the smoking booths to clean the ashtrays… whether they are smokers themselves or not.
Having lived in a smoke-free Ireland for almost one year now, this is really the way to go, and no doubt that several other European countries will follow. It does make a big difference when, at the end of the night, you come out from a pub, you go home and you realise, “hey, my clothes don’t stink”.
Of course, some argue that smells that replace the smoke fumes isn’t any better: farts and sweat have been hiding for so long in a smoke-filled environment that nobody was noticing them…
