Oh, that's right, rugby doesn't hurt other people. Yeah, believe that and I'll know you don't even know what rugby is. I'll bet you also don't know what an scientific epidemiological study is either. I'd even bet you don't know that what you don't know can have its results massaged like a Swedish actress on retreat with her loofah salesman. Massaged as in, here's the result I want Mr. Scientist and you want your grant money so go get my results. Ergo, you got'cher 2nd hand smoke studies.
That is history.
Now, the same group of nazi do-gooders are coming for you and you can't stop them because they are your friends, peers, allies and family members. Your family member though might possibly just be your batty aunt who can hear azaleas scream when she cuts them. No matter they're baaaaccck. For you. And your kids.
Oh, and your rights. You signed those puppies away when you bought into the whole smokers are second class citizens argument that posed them as a group so reviled that they could be taxed for everything from anti-smoking programs to teaching your child the lost positions of the Kama Sutra in school. Congratulations.
Here is a good wrap up of things the do-gooders have in their sights and it is just the beginning now that you all have opened Pandora's Box.
From Samizdata
Health is the most important thing
The smoking ban was a mere tasty morsel. It has roused the appetite of the beast without bedding it back down again. The hungry beast has drawn blood and it wants more:
- Government ministers should shrug off media accusations that they are running a nanny state and introduce tougher public health measures, experts say.
The Nuffield Council on Bioethics said the time had come to consider a whole host of interventions in the UK after the introduction of a smoking ban.- Its proposes raising alcohol prices, restricting pub opening hours and better food labelling to fight obesity....
- The report by the panel of experts, which include scientists, lawyers and philosophers, said there was a balance to be struck between individual freedom and wider public protection.
