Nobody will read this one.
Today has the capacity to be a victory for common sense and decency, but sadly it is unlikely that Teflon will even be asked the right question, let alone give the right answer. It is unlikely that he will give any answers at all, seeing as he has been practising his replies all week and doesn't even know what the questions are yet.
So I'm going to blog about something else.
Good old Frank, the campaigner.
The where-should-we-be-allowed-to-smoke argument is done to death. I smoke. I've never thought that smoking in restaurants is a good thing. I've always thought that smoking in pubs is mandatory. I've also thought that separate areas are good, too, because it's a choice. I'm entitled to a choice.
But I suppose I'm not as full-on as some, who think it should be fine for them to smoke at their desk at work. I think it is, but I understand those who disagree.
What I seriously disagree with is this thing about how uncomfortable it has to be. By "law", or statue.
We have a "law" that states that a smoker shall be uncomfortable, inconvenienced, cold, wet and miserable. That's not a proper law, that's spiteful.
If people choose to smoke, and the law proscribes that in any public place indoors, then the law is not allowed to dictate that the area conceded to the smoker has to conform to a worse specification than Stalag Luft Whatever.
That's a fact, in my book. Try and find an analogy, apart from possibly a maximum security prison, where a section of the population is forced to be made cold and wet. Actually, it was a trick. You're not forced to be cold and wet in a maximum security prison - it would be in contravention of basic human rights.
In the US (and other places) there was once a thing called prohibition. It was a bit of a shot-in-the-foot, as the Mafia took over and founded the Speakeasy. I suspect we have them now, I just don't know where they are. Yet. I do know that not very many people I know buy fags from shops any more. There is a huge black market, mainly coming from Poland, via lorry drivers, and it is lucrative enough for them to risk getting caught.
Catalyst. I often ponder the question "when the guano hits the fan for the establishment, and it will, what will be the tipping point?"
They are scared of terrorism. A handful of people, possibly numbering tens, seriously pissed off about something.
I wonder, will the catalyst be a bunch of cold, wet, miserable people? Possibly numbering millions?
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