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Originally Posted by Paddy1
But we really are talking about a ban on smoking in bars/restaurants. I can't think of any other public enclosed place where it isn't already forbidden to smoke. Car emissions affect everyone and can be attributable to the deaths of many more people. It should be the number 1 priority.
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Again, you are contrasting the entirety of the problem with air pollution (not all of which is from vehicles) with a specific aspect of the problem with smoking, thereby distorting the ratio of the apparent scale and complexity of the two problems.
Even so, maybe vehicle emissions should be a higher priority, but as vehicle emissions are a direct result of economic activity (so you can't simply ban, or even heavily restrict, vehicles), and are a social necessity for vast numbers of people, the issue is more complex and requires bigger, strategic solutions. Many such solutions are already in place - catalytic converters, low-sulphur fuel, lead-free fuel, emissions testing in the MOT, and so on - and many are in development or are encouraged by the Government through tax, such as LPG, fuel cell and similar technology.
This smoking ban, on the other hand, has been identified as a very straightforward way of tackling a serious, but identifiable and containable problem.
And as I have said countless times now, the existence of other problems does not in any way mean we should do nothing about smoking - especially if smoking is easier to target.