Landlord fined over smoking ban
Here we go. You probably saw this story. The first pub landlord in England to be prosecuted for defying the smoking ban has been fined 500 pounds. Hugh Howitt (known as Hamish) of Blackpool, vowed to continue letting smokers light up in his bars, which are called The Happy Scots Bar and Del Boy's. (Both sound like they have a real traditional northern English feel.) This carcinogenic libertarian admitted at Blackpool Magistrates Court to allowing customers to smoke on 12 separate occasions in July. He was fined 100 pounds for five of these counts, plus 2,000 in costs. (Not quite the maximum penalty of 30,000 pounds, so he got off lightly, mainly because Blackpool Council didn't want to appear heavy-handed.)

Hamish has apparently set up a political party called Fight Against Government Suppression (spot the acronym). The judge, who said he didn't wish to make a "martyr" of Hamish, said that the landlord's campaign had been "silly, pointless and misguided. It has achieved nothing. All it seems to have done is cause a great deal of problems for yourself." You will not be surprised to learn that Hamish "remained defiant" on the courtroom steps, saying, "I'm not putting two fingers up at the judiciary. I'm putting two fingers up at posturing political prats." That'll show them. He then promised to "fight on and fight on. I'm not putting anybody out of my pub until they shut me down."

Why is it that I feel differently about the defiance of Hamish than I would if, say, he'd refused to pay the Poll Tax (remember that?), or refused to sign up for an ID card (coming soon, unless David Cameron isn't a lying liar)? I'm all for a bit of civil disobedience to make a political point and to keep things interesting, but the smoking ban is not really political, is it? It's about health. It's not, as some initially whinged, about soft southerners trying to ruin the fun of honest, working-class northerners - London's full of smokers. What about the "suppression" of bar staff who didn't want to breathe in poisonous smoke in the workplace? Anyway, you can imagine how painful it must have been for the business-snogging government to resist the charms of the tobacco lobby and finally push the ban through this summer - especially when coughers contribute so generously to the Treasury's coffers (nice). Standing outside pubs, especially as the cold weather sets in, is bound to have an effect on the number of smokers in this country eventually. And don't give me the fashionable argument about pubs now smelling of piss and BO. I'd rather know what I'm smelling, for better or worse, which is why I despise chemical air fresheners.

I was never a militant anti-smoker, but I do believe the liberty to breathe in non-carcinogenic air in places of leisure is one that outweights the liberty of smokers to provide it. The irony is, you're much more likely to breathe smoke in while walking down the street now. Unless you drop into Del Boy's in Blackpool, obviously. You can probably hunt a fox in the beer garden.

Labels: civil liberties, smoking