Government’s meddling needs to stop

OH NO! Not another smoking ban . . .

“Here he goes again!” I hear you cry. And you’ll be right.

I have for many years since the Scottish Lab-Dum coalition government introduced their insidious ban in 2006 been at the forefront in defending the rights of smokers, and for that I make no apology.

I said at the time the ban would decimate the licence trade, that many establishments would be forced to shut with the loss of hundreds if not thousands of jobs. Sadly I was proved right. I also stated that people would go out less, preferring to stay at home drinking unsupervised and smoking without the hassle, and that supermarket alcohol sales would go through the roof. Again I was proved right.

I suggested violence at home would probably increase because of this and that emergency services would be sorely stretched. They’re now almost at breaking point. Seems I was right again!

I was also at pains to point out that if they were serious about tackling the effects of second hand smoke and the debilitating consequences it has on our nation’s health then there was only one real decision for the Government to make and that was to ban the damn things completely.

They’d have to ban the making, importing and selling of them. Not criminalise those who smoke them, making lepers of those who indulge in the habit. Petty punishments have no effect on the availability of cigarettes or, most importantly, the increase in addiction among the young.

Most worrying, though, was the dangerous precedent of interfering with the democratic rights of the smoker. To me it was a step too far for any government to take and I wondered if this was just the thin edge of a very dangerous wedge. Who or what was going to be targeted next by our Big Bruv Gov and their sleekit squadrons of snoopers?

Well seven years on it seems I was right to be worried. Alcohol and its availability almost immediately became the next target, along with fatty food, high hedges, even idling cars.

And last week, almost a month after we saw cigarettes hysterically being locked in steel cabinets in shops, we witnessed an equally hysterical drive from the paranoid androids who run and ruin our lives for a law to be passed to criminalise those who smoke in cars when children are present, regardless of whether the vehicle has air conditioning or is open top.

We also had a Glasgow hospital’s totalitarian health regime over-reacting over smoking and employing two highly paid snoopers to catch folk who sneak a wee fag in NHS grounds.

Do we need to go that far? Most smokers don’t smoke in front of their kids let alone in the car and, as for hospitals, most of the smokers there are usually woman in labour or expectant fathers . Are we really suggesting we run them off the grounds and then fine them?

The irony is that tax on fags and booze is a major contributor to the running of our NHS and the wages of those paid to hunt the smokers!

Do we really need yet more legislation and more fines? Do we really want our politicians dreaming up yet more fanciful schemes to criminalise us all? I think not.

What next? A visit to your home to see if you smoke in your living room? If your children are present when you do? Oh, and while they’re at it can they check your fridge for fizzy drinks? It’s heading that way and it has to stop and as you may have noticed I’m always right!