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| October | 27 |
| 2003 |
A dilemma: what do you do when your principles conflict with the evidence of your own eyes (or, in this particular case, nose)?
Everything about the recently imposed smoking ban in New York City bars and restaurants offends me: its genesis – it was pushed through by Mayor Bloomberg, an anti-smoking fanatic; its scope – it is the nanniest of all nanny state responses to smoking; and its prescriptive power – it gives the most direct legislative effect to the idea that the state should determine the rules of individual polite behaviour.
Many of the forces which pushed for the ban are, in other contexts, those I consider to be the forces of darkness: opposed to freedom, opposed to choice, and opposed to individual responsibility. So neither the ban’s proponents nor the principles underlying it have anything to commend them.
Except for just one thing: it works. Its impact has been magnificent.
I’m just back from a week in New York City, much of that time being spent in bars and restaurants. And I’ve had a unique experience: not only do my clothes not reek of tobacco smoke, I’ve managed to enjoy all my food and drink without being nearly asphyxiated by neighbouring smokers.
I’ve been to New York a couple of times already since the ban came into effect, but this time was different: the previous fortnight I’d been in Brussels and Vienna, two of the smoking capitals of the world. The contrast was – literally – breathtaking. Living part of the time in Brussels, I’m used to the fact that no meal, no drink and no meeting there is possible without the accompanying smoke. Brussels has some of the finest restaurants in the world, but the number of meals I’ve had which have been ruined by cigarette smoke would keep the Swiss Army fed for many months.
And bad as Brussels is, its air is positively fresh compared with Vienna, which I had the misfortune to visit a couple of weeks ago. I had thought my misanthropic demeanour was a result of discomfort in the presence of so many elderly Nazis and their younger Freedom Party voting friends. In large part, yes. But it dawned on me when I left that the real problem with Vienna is not simply the Viennese, but that it is almost impossible to breathe properly, so prevalent is the cigarette smoke. Other than two hours in the Musikverein listening to the Vienna Philharmonic – for once not just metaphorically life enhancing but literally so - I spent almost my entire time in Vienna wheezing.
What a contrast with New York. For years it was little more than a dirty, crime ridden, smelly urban jungle; now, without the slightest doubt, it is once again the greatest city on the planet. I don’t for a second contend that the ban on smoking compares with the transformative effect of Mayor Giuliani and New Yorkers’ decision that they would no longer put up with limp-wristed, half-hearted policing. But it’s the icing on the cake. It’s not just the streets’ cleanliness and the visible presence of the NYPD which puts London to shame. It’s the fact that its bars and restaurants are pleasant even for those who don’t get their kicks from inhaling burnt tobacco.
Yes, I hate smoking, and I have always considered smokers who inflict their foul habit on the rest of us to be – let’s be charitable – downright inconsiderate. OK, let’s not be charitable. It’s a disgusting habit, and far more anti-social even than that other commonplace today, spitting in the street. But I’ve always been against the idea of a universal ban on smoking in public. Individual bars and restaurants can do as they see fit, and it’s up to the rest of us to decide if we want to frequent their smoke-filled rooms. It’s not the place of the law to legislate for polite behaviour.
And yet…years of leaving it to individuals to decide how to behave have had almost no effect for the better. In New York, the impact of legislation has been truly wonderful, reclaiming the city from smokers who, as experience clearly shows, almost never act considerately.
On Friday the Norwegian government launched an advertising campaign to prepare Norwegians for their own smoking ban, which is due to take effect next year. So what am I supposed to think? How typically Scandinavian, interfering yet again in the individual’s right to choose? Well, yes.
Oh dear. My principles are all over the place. I appreciate all the arguments about the individual’s right to enjoy air that hasn’t been contaminated to tobacco smoke, and my right to enjoy a nice meal without someone else’s cigarette blowing all over me. But they won’t really do, will they? What right is that? If I don’t like the air in a bar I don’t have to go to there. I can go to one which bans smoking.
But. The fact is, the ban works in New York City, and I’ll bet a jumbo packet of Marlboro Lite that it would work here, too. So rise up and unite, clean air freedom lovers of the world. Let’s ditch our principles, and push to make London a capital in which we can all breathe freely.
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And therefore Mr. Pollard starts the process of being ensnared by the forces of Sauron....
Seriously, this is nothing more than an example of somebody who enjoys the benefits of statism. It's nothing new. Most single mothers vote for center-left parties because they're the ones who can promise them the most benefits. It's all a matter of self-interest.
Who cares about the liberty of others if you can gain from statist policies, right?
Am I to believe there were absolutely no restaurants in NYC before the ban? If there were, then obviously Mr. Pollard had been going to the wrong ones.
The principle of ordered freedom is never wrong. Statism can offer its benefits whereas liberty carries its own inconveniences. That is no reason to curtail one's support of the latter in favor of the former.
Mr. Pollard could've limited himself only to non-smokers' restaurants. If enough people thought like him, restaurants that allow smokers will soon become a small minority.
Statism offers a quick and dirty way to accomplish the same thing. The difference is that the price it demands is to abandon one's principled defense of liberty. It is too bad that Mr. Pollard not only accepted the bribe (of which he had no choice) but is now about to enlist himself on the side of the social tinkerers.
The ordinance made criminals of people who smoke. None of these people could've indulged themselves in restaurants that explicitly banned smoking. But of course, for Mr. Pollard, their rights are irrelevant.
I do hope Mr. Pollard starts to understand where his tax pounds are going. Much of it are going to people who, like Mr. Pollard, also benefits from statism in other ways.
Sorry Stephen, you're wrong on this one. And I speak as a fellow non-smoker
Smoking ban? In the street, fine. On public transport, fine. Restaurants, bars and pubs? Nope. Let the owner decide. As the other commenter points out, this is something the market can deal with perfectly adequately.
A blanket smoking ban... just not British.
It is regrettably axiomatic that even the most fair-minded and otherwise rational of people always have some personal hobbyhorse that they want imposed on others by state coercion.
The answer (the only rational answer) is to leave it to the market. If the demand for a smoke-free environment is as widespread as many would have us believe, then entrepreneurs who open non-smoking restaurants and bars will swell and prosper. We do not need either you or Mayor Bloomberg to make their will the writ of the law.
Agreed with all the commenters above, and I would add that the conclusion that the ban "works" is a bit shaky as well. If by "works" you mean "alienates clientele and hurts business," well, I guess so.
I'm a non-smoker, always have been and always will be. But I'm reminded of a comment I read in (I believe) the FT on Friday: sure, all those waiters, waitresses and bartenders have fresher air to breathe now, but they no longer have jobs.
Go for it, Stephen.
Smoking in the presence of non-smokers is not an exercise in freedom of choice but of the rankest bad manners. It is no different to performing natural bodily excretory functions in public and should suffer the same censure.
Mr. Pollard is british - as such I would suggest he is allowed to be pragmatic, rather then insist on the consistancy of, shudder, continental systems!
The trouble with having principles is that occassionally you have to live with them and the point about a smoking ban is that it is the thin end of the wedge, along with making us wear our seatbelts. Stephen you need to get a grip and realise that the principle is more important than you enjoying your foie gras (pretty anti social if you are a duck)
Problem with being part of the human race is that you have to put up with other humans and their habits from time to time.
I feel for people who do smoke. It's the most addictive habit of all addictions, and I also think rationally people should be able to do what they like. I can't deny, however, given that most of my friends smoke, that if it were made mandatory that it would no longer be possible to be swayed to going to a restaurant where smoking is allowed. I don't think restaurants would lose business if there was a blanket ban. I think restaurants that do currently have a ban, do lose out because there is the choice. People are not going to stop going out because you can no longer smoke in restaurants.
At the moment what happens is, when I and my friends go out to a restaurant, we have to choose one that allows smoking, or they get fidgety and a bit tempered after a while and it spoils my meal. I like for them to be happy. I'd love to see what happened to the rate of giving up smoking for those that really want to, if in all these public places, smoking was not allowed. It would be a very interesting social experiment, not at all pleasant for people who do smoke, of course!
Another thing. For those of my friends who *have* given up smoking, who find it so hard to be out with friends and not take the habit up again for being in places where they associate the joy of smoking, and where other people are smoking - it would be a godsend. :-)
Unusual ideas can make enemies.
Unusual ideas can make enemies.
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