It isn't often I agree with Simon Jenkins, so why not make a point of agreeing with him when I do? Yes, why not?
It was simple, clean and illiberal.Exactly. The heart of it is the passage from Mill that Jenkins goes on to quote:
The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilised community against his will is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant.To this, in the matter of public smoking, there is no answer. What stands in for an answer - that smoking does in fact harm others by way of the secondary effects of passive smoking - only works so long as you don't probe it. If there are areas set aside exclusively for smokers, any non-smokers willing to share them, and at whatever necessary extra cost which those who support such a facility take upon themselves, then the harm from smoking can be limited to those who voluntarily incur the risk of it.
[W]hat the hell? You live, you die. You might as well have have a ciggy while you're at it.I don't know if Paul Anderson is right to say that this 'will cost the [Labour] party dozens of seats'. But it's a lousy decision anyway. First they come for your smokes, next thing it's your bloody blankets:
Prime Minister Tony Blair, Chancellor Gordon Brown and Home Secretary Charles Clarke all voted for a blanket ban.