I've possibly mentioned before that I am a cigarette smoker and was interested to read in Holyrood.com that 80% of Scots are now in favour of the ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces, with 84% agreeing that pubs, restaurants and clubs are now more pleasant places.
I'll freely admit to having had severe misgivings when the legislation was introduced and the ban came into force 2 years back but I've come round to agreeing that it was very much the right thing to do, albeit not a very Liberal proposition.
There are numerous reasons for my change of heart and these include:
- big drop in dry cleaning bills.
- I smoke less.
- better atmosphere in pubs.
- save money by smoking less.
- healthier for bar staff.
- not making fellow customers inhale second hand smoke.
It seems to me that this legislation is party of what I hope will become a sea change of attitudes in Scotland. We need to have healthier diets, cut out smoking, cease binge drinking and take more exercise and I plead as guilty as anyone else to having a less than perfectly healthy lifestyle. Hopefully the impending move to Kinross-shire will give me the impetus to start making changes although if I'm truthful, it'll be more to do with the fact that the nearest pub will be four miles away!
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I've never seen the ban as not being a liberal thing to do. The whole point about being liberal is to fight for people's rights to do whatever they want to do so long as it does not infringe other people's rights. But smoking does impact on other people's rights - and many, many people are only now beginning to realise how much.
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