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Originally Posted by Gareth
I dunno, I quite liked my analogy  My ban wouldn't stop you from walking alongside the road, just from walking on the road itself. Similarly, you're suggesting that smokers will be allowed to smoke near the pub, just not inside it.
I don't disagree that the ban would prevent people from having a smoke in the street, but what I'm saying (and have been all along) is that the ban takes away the fundamental choice that you and I and everyone else, as adults, currently have over what we are allowed to do and when and where. I believe vehemently in adults being given the option to choose what is right for them, this applies to smoking cigarettes in a pub, drinking alcohol, having an abortion, believing in God, standing for parliament as a member of the BNP, etc... etc... etc... However, I'm aware that some people feel that it is acceptable to have your rights removed like this. Personally, I'd like to have the choice to smoke outside or inside the pub... or even not to smoke at all if I chose to.
I'm getting a sense of dÃÃâ€*’©ja vu  |
You're right, we are going round in circles, because no matter how strongly you try to assert the right of the smoker to choose where and when he lights up, you fail to account for the right of the non-smoker not to breathe in the smoke.
Suggesting that the non-smoker should not go to the pub simply will not do. Why should the non-smoker be denied the right to go to the pub? It's as if the willingness to act in the best interests of our health is being portrayed as some kind of moral cowardice!