Smoking ban : Sensible public health move or the start of a very slippery slope ?
I have always hated smoking, but I have to say I am actually quite angry about this smoking ban they are introducing, we are supposed to live in a free country after all. There is far too much of this being told how to live our lives in the minutest detail, what ever happened to personal responsibility ? And worst of all society is totally inconsistent about it all anyway because obesity if a far bigger public health issue yet society does not even want to call fat people fat in case it upsets them !
These days anyone getting upset is the ultimate sin, in fact upsetting people is slowly being made a crime…
I’m not sure I get your point.
My understanding is that the plan is no-one who can currently buy cigarettes will be stopped form doing so but no children will ever be able to buy them as the age will move up each year. That doesn’t feel arbitrary.
In terms of the initial point re obesity, everyone has to eat, so you can’t ban food and even unhealthy foods don’t do any harm in moderation, so I think banning them would be a step too far. Smoking is not necessary and (as far as I know) has no upside, even in moderation so I don’t really disagree with the ban.
Who are we to say that ?
Many people like smoking, my parents stopped smoking in the mid 70s when the dangers became apparent, but both said they used to like smoking.
This is yet another case where society is dragging everyone down to the most basal level in order to try and ensure that even the most irresponsible and/or weak willed and/or plain thick people do not get themselves into too much trouble.
We were in Taco Bell the other day and a family were there who were all grossly obese, even the grand parents and the kids had started going that way…So they tax food, in this case the drinks that Taco Bell sell. But I don’t want zero sugar Pepsi I prefer the taste of normal and I cannot help thinking sugar (a natural ingredient) is better for me that these artificial sweeteners, so why should I be taxed for that choice ? Particularly when I am not over weight anyway ?
In actual fact it was even worse that than because many of these fast food places have just stopped selling “normal” coke because it’s too complicated to have two different pricing structures so I have to “choose” a zero sugar drink.
And the aforementioned fat family proves it doesn’t work anyway…
Why not say anyone who’s not 18 on 31 Dec this year, or under 21. Fifteen is an arbitrary number imho. You will have friendship cohorts where some will be able to smoke, and other can’t by a matter of days.
As of the 1st of April I can grow and smoke my own cannabis . I also find it interesting that in Germany children from the age of 16 can legally drink 1/2 a bottle of wine a day. Not allowed to smoke cigarettes until you are 18 though.
Us brits have no limit on how much wine the 16 year olds can drink, not sure why our authoritarian leaders haven’t got round to it yet - presumably the pensioner votes reminisce of their own drunken youth.
That will be true whatever age/date you pick. I agree you could pick 14, 15, 12, whatever but the key is that none of these people can currently buy tobacco legally so nothing will actually change for them, they’ll just never get to the point where they can. If you pick a date for 18 or 21 then you’ll still have the cohort problem but some may already be smoking and have to stop, which the current proposal avoids. (Is 15 an acknowledgement that 16/17 year olds may already be buying tobacco quite easily?)
Yeah, I agree you could apply similar rules to alcohol and gambling (I wouldn’t in those cases) as again I don’t see any issue with those in moderation, isn’t the odd red wine supposed to be good for you and the odd flutter is an acceptable pastime as long as you can control it.
The flip side is to make everything legal, pot, cocaine, heroine - tax them heavily and let people decide for themselves (I’m not in favour of that either, by the way)
It’s all shades of grey, where do you draw the line between personal choice and nanny state - we would all draw it in different places based on our own beliefs and probably our own habits, if we’re honest.
I’m the kind of Dad that let my kids get 3 Mocktails for £3 last week when we were on holiday. Fortunately they were so sweet my Son tipped it away. He also likes coffee now; I usually only allow Decaf, but relent if none available. He’s 9. I bought him a kids Opinel at 6. NOW TEAR ME APART
. I also find it interesting that in Germany children from the age of 16 can legally drink 1/2 a bottle of wine a day. Not allowed to smoke cigarettes until you are 18 though.
