On 1st July the ban on smoking in public places will begin and thousands of council employed ‘smoking wardens’ will be unleashed onto the streets of England to hunt down miscreants. The BBC reports that Councils are set to spend £29.5 million to employ staff to enforce the ban. These wardens will be able to go into pubs, offices and other public places and will have power to photograph or film unlawful behaviour and issue £50 on-the-spot fines .
I smoke. I have no problem with the ban coming in. I shall simply go outside when I feel like having a fag. I have a feeling, given the experience in Scotland where there have been just 11 fixed penalty notices issued to premises in the last 10 months, with many councils having issued none at all, that smokers in England will comply with the ban. Why does the government bother with this? There are thousands of zealous anti-smokers in this country who probably can’t wait to go into a pub and enforce the ban themselves.
POLICE were branded “bonkers” by Britain’s chief law officer yesterday for putting the human rights of criminals above those of victims.
“The Lord Chancellor slated the Derbyshire force for not issuing photos of two escaped killers because it would infringe their human rights.” The Mirror
We have not heard much from Charlie Falconer in recent months. Good to see that he is keeping his hand in.
MPs look set to face a sleaze probe after claiming £4.5million in travel expenses.
Not really much of a story here, I fear. News must be a bit thin on the ground. I read the Times report yesterday. The Mirror follows today. Yes… Scots MPs have higher bills for rail and air travel. This is a fact of geography. MPs, were, apparently, shown the figures some time ago and were given an opporunity to correct any inaccuracies, the Mirror reports.
Leading news in The Sun today – Viagra is a Valentine’s Day flop.
“VALENTINE’S Day lovers hoping Viagra would add a boost to their celebrations felt let down yesterday. Boots announced an over-the-counter trial of the sex drug at three Manchester stores.
But men found it was not as simple to get as they thought.
Pharmacist James Longden, 28, said: “We absolutely won’t be handing it to people who want to give their girlfriend a good time on Valentine’s Day. There is a protocol that involves taking the medical history.”
Ah well… back to trawling through all those Viagra and Cialis spam emails then.
Can anyone tell me if it’s tue that the Houses of Parliament will be exempt from the smoking ban? (It’s a royal palace, apparently).
I heard something about this – but the person who told me indicated that Parliament would comply with the Ban.
A question for the Department of Constitutional Affairs?
The day smoking was banned in otherwise commodious lobby at the Strand was a very bleak one. In fairness it should apply to Parliament. All of it.
The Eu has just given itself an exemption from the very lunacy they started.
I am a bit behind the curve on Europe these days…. are you suggesting that one may smoke in EU buildings. If so – please confirm. I may well be interested in looking more closely at this.
Yes I am. I read it in a newspaper. The EU buildings (assorted Parliaments, directorates and the like) are being equipped with *air tight chambers* apparently. And smoking will then be allowed therein.
I am just going through the process of submitting a project to our senior team to get a smoking shelter built where I work here in Manchester UK.
If the workers of the Uk have to quit or go out in the cold then why not the politicians???
Are we not all equal??
I agree… I can see absolutely no reason why politicos in Parliament should be exempt.. Let the smokers go outside… excellent views over the river….