Sorry Grodon, but your nanny-state is flawed.

[Nick]

Just a quick post as I'm sposed to be putting lights on the tree except I'm procrastinating as I hate doing it.

Anyways, a thought occurred to me as I drove off to get the papers this morning and it's this:

At the Guitar Hero 3 launch in London a short while back, the national press were invited down in the hope that they might stoop to write perhaps 30 words on GH3 and give it some publicity. Inviting Johnny Rotten along was a PR coup as the next day's papers all mentioned the GH3 gig... not because of the game but because Mr Rotten dared to light up a fag INDOORS!!!! Gasp!

Of course, Activision were over the bloody moon as every article mentioned GH3 and nearly every paper covered the nicotine fuelled crime against humanity by Johnny and his lighter.

But this started me thinking.

It's such an awful thing to smoke nowadays that it's banned in every public place. Yes, it gives you cancer and you die a slow, painful and costly death, so no, you absolutely shouldn't expose those around you to your smoke.

I have no beef with this.

But what does irk me somewhat is the hypocrisy we see in this this public smoking ban.

Why is the ban in place? Because for years we've know that there's a DIRECT link between smoking and all sorts of respiratory diseases.

So if that's case, why not just ban smoking altogether? Make smoking illegal and ban the sale of cigarettes.

Surely, if the government has our public health at heart it would do this?

Yes, I can hear you saying that the government makes far too much money from the taxes on tobacco... but wouldn't that be off-set by the savings we'd make in the NHS that doesn't have thousand upon thousand of smoking illness related patients?

You can argue it'd drive smoking 'underground' but so what? Ban smoking and sure as eggs is eggs, millions will give up rather than pay inflated prices AND risk a criminal record.

So, you have to ask WHY smoking isn't banned?

We happily block the import of Chinese made toys with too much lead in the paint and you should see the precautions taken when someone finds their garage is roofed with white asbestos yet the same guy in the bio-chem hazard suit with the military grade respirator is quite happily puffing away on 40 a day when he's not disposing of asbestos.

Could it be that tobacco companies lobby the government like mad all the time? Perhaps the 'old-boy' network, very much a contributing factor in the Tories plunge from favour, is in full effect behind the scenes?

Seems something of a dichotomy to me... we'll ban smoking in public 'cos we knows it's bad for everyone but we won't actually ban smoking 'cos.... well, fill in your own reason.

[moogle]

spelling mistake in the title nick

[kalniel]

Because the govt. doesn't want to take away your right to kill yourself. Only your right to kill others.

[Funkstar]

^^ what he siad.

I don't think i would have put it quite like that, but there you go.