Smoking bans are a good thing that promote pubs and bars to those who don't smoke. That's the line of BS that those in favor of smoking bans in private businesses usually use. The other line is that "it's for the health of the workers". Well now some pub workers in Scottish pubs don't have to worry about that nasty smoke or that nasty money they earn either, since they no longer have a job.
The Scottish Licensed Trade Association reports that 34% of pub owners have had to fire workers due to a drop in drink sales of 11%, and food sales of 3%.
Once again these are private businesses allowing legal substance use. Of course we know that non-smokers are really super concerned about their health when they wander into a pub and start slamming some deadly alcohol. Those who apply for jobs at pubs are also super health conscience, expecting a hospital clean work environment. Underlying all of these stupid smoking bans is the belief by those who enact them that people are too stupid to make their own choices. Workers are too stupid to understand that a smoking pub will have smokers and customers are too stupid to realize that there might be smoking in them.
Scotsman
Tomorrow is the first anniversary of the Scottish Executive's ban on smoking in pubs and restaurants: cue dancing in the streets. Not everybody will be dancing, however. The Scottish Licensed Trade Association (SLTA) has rained on the Executive's parade by revealing that 34% of publicans have had to sack staff as a consequence of the smoking ban, drink sales have fallen by 11%, and food (which was supposed to prosper under a ban) by 3%.
Such crassly commercial considerations cut no ice with health commissar Andy Kerr, who roundly declared there was no evidence the drop in staff was due to the smoking ban, though he did not offer any alternative explanation. That, you see, is the mystical gnosis of government: publicans think they know why they have laid off their staff, but they are deluded. It is reserved to the political magi, such as Kerr, to possess the inner knowledge of why these sackings really took place, on the ideological astral plane.
In the end if there is a demand for non-smoking pubs they would flourish on their own in a free market arena. If there was such a demand you would see pubs voluntarily making their pubs non-smoking because it benefits them financially. This is just another example of some politicians, many who have never run a business themselves, sticking their big idiotic noses into the affairs of others for no other reason than pandering to a fringe of voters and because they can.
Tipped by: hakmao (via Tinkerty Tonk)
