Yet another twist of the screw on smokers
I am not a happy camper today.
That odious fat skunk James Reilly is back in the headlines.
Reilly, I might remind you is an ex-Minister for Health and ex-deputy leader of his party who was summarily and quite rightly chucked out of both posts. As Minister for Health he let the health service rot while he concentrated his entire efforts on his anti-smoker obsession, bringing in the Plain Packaging legislation. He is blinded by his own fanaticism and is now [unfortunately] a senator; a compensatory post as even his own constituents failed to vote him in at the last election.
Now the cunt is banning smoking outdoors where food is served.
You lot may have guessed by now that I frequently visit the coffee shop in the village. It’s quite big indoors but has a nice little roofed terrace out front. So I sit there with my pipe, my dog and my coffee and chat to friends and locals [and frequently to total strangers]. It’s a convivial spot and grand for a relaxing hour or two. In fact it is difficult to pass the place as Penny always insists on dragging me in as she loves it too.
So if this snide piece of smoker hating law is passed then that is another little avenue of pleasure denied to me.
An unintended consequence of the smoking ban has been the prevalence of smokers in the outdoor areas of bars, cafés and restaurants, Mr Reilly said.
Yes, well the anti-smoker crusade is full of unintended consequences, isn’t it?
This means that nobody can enjoy a meal outdoors on a sunny day in this country, without having to inhale other people’s smoke.
I could equally say that a smoker can’t enjoy anything on rainy days, which are by far in the majority in this country.
Anyone spending their hard-earned money in a restaurant or café should be entitled to enjoy their meal in a smoke-free environment.
Aw fuck off you cretinous vindictive cunt! What about smokers’ entitlements? The fact that we pay way above our weight in punitive taxes should entitle us to something? But no – this isn’t about entitlements, nor is it about health. It is just another move to punish smokers and deny them another little remaining slice of pleasure.
There is a simple solution in my case – just get them to make the terrace a No Food Area. The owners are both healthy smokers so that should be no problem.
If smokers can be exiled to the outdoors, then let non-smokers be exiled to the indoors.
P.S. I see Frank has noticed this little gem too.
Smokefree Ireland by 2025 eh. Where’s Plant X when you need it?
Or planet X even!
Just show me the way to Planet X. Maybe they are more tolerant there?
And of course after the ‘Success’ of the outdoor smoking ban in Ireland the next stop on its World Tour will be the UK.
Always keep an eye on Ireland. We seem to lead the way when it comes to persecuting smokers.
James Reilly the half wit who misinterpreted the information that snus it tucked under the lip to mean that snussers ‘slit their gums open’ in order to insert the snus .
Liar or idiot ? Or both ?
Your guess is as good as mine
The man is a single minded zealot and is completely obsessive about smoking. I think the Snus episode was him doing his usual thing – say anything if it is negative about tobacco, whether it’s true or not.
The stupidity of it is breath taking. So they ban smoking at the outdoor tables, every smoker will simply get up ,leave their latte to cool, walk two feet off the restaurant’s premises and smoke on the public pavement- on which ever side of the ‘outdoor food service area’ happens to be in the right wind direction to carry the smoke straight back to the tables.
Aah yes but remember the 2025 promise. The pavement or rather what the loonies term ‘the public realm’ will be next so that’s when all petrol and diesel engines must stop.
I reckon they should simply jump ahead and ban smoke in Ireland right now. Take a risk hell lifes too short to bring it in slowly.
I’m quite sure there would be opposition but sadly it would be controlled opposition after all ‘little me’ cannot stop progress.
This is fuck all to do with other customers and their likes or dislikes. This is purely a vindictive move by Reilly to vilify smokers even further. The man just has a personal obsession, plain and simple.
*MS Paper clip voice* I have corrected your sentence for you: “The man is a cunt, plain and simple”.
That too.
The very same thing was done in a part of Australia (cannot remember where) which had lots of small cafes with tables outside, what happend was all of the cafes stopped serving food outside so that people could drink coffee and smoke.
Why did they do this, because they made more money that way.
Of course the local governors went mad about this, the horror of people walking down a street seeing smokers enjoying themselves tusk tusk.
The Antis will always condemn any method whereby they are not “obeyed”. We must do precisely as they say or else we are bold children.
In mainland UK, pubs are still closing at the rate of 25 per week, a process which began around 2007 and which shows no sign of diminishing. Restaurants too are now closing/going bust at a fast rate, as customers have found they can acquire good food in supermarket ‘gourmet’ ranges or even via takeaway apps, allowing them to dine (and smoke) in comfort at home. (I have not spent a penny in any local pub or restaurant since June 2007, so it’s all my fault.)
If the zealots like your cuntish compatriot want to kill every last trace of the hospitality industry, a major employer and contributor to GDP and taxes, they’re going the right way about it.
I have not spent a penny in any local pub or restaurant since June 2007, so it’s all my fault.)
We are all guilty. I have,aside from the very rare latte (like when meeting up with our late Landlady),also drawn back the hem of my robe from the UK hospitality industry, because being well brought up I am too much of a gentleman to force my filthy, sordid money on anyone who doesn’t want it.
Just to emphasise the point, prior to 2007 Mrs M and & I used to drink/dine out on average three times each week (we’re not rich, just lazy), on the Friday of each week forming a group of 8 who met at the same restaurant – I was the only smoker. That group ceased meeting after 2007 so, rather than losing just the one ‘smoker’, they lost eight very regular customers, and that was their profit-margin, the final few customers who made it worthwhile opening. Is it any wonder the hospitality industry is falling apart?
I was in my local pub last night and as normal it was very busy, why ?
Well for the last 7 years it has won best real pub in greater London, yes it’s beers are very good and are reasonably priced.
it has a very “old style” friendly atmosphere, go in on your own and you will always end up chatting to someone.
You can vape in there without any problem and if wanted there is free snuf behind the bar, how many pubs are there like that. They are even building an extension at the back of the pub, now that’s a rare sight these days.
It is owned buy a group of locals who banded together, and bought it about 9 years ago, they have even bought another pub since. Like most things if life, give the people what they want and they will come and spend money.
http://Www.Hopecarshalton.co.uk if you want to look at what can be done.
It’s less food that fat fuck O’Reilly should be eating if he’s so concerned about health
Hopefully all smokers in Ireland are letting their representatives in the Dáil know their opposition to this tyrannical proposal.
Hopefully some non-smokers, too? When will any of them see what’s actually going on? It’s bullying and persecution, plain and simple, and nothing else. I hate to invoke Mr Godwin here, but the parallels to the early years of That Period In Time are very stark, and yet the ability of the un-persecuted (whoever the “persecutees” happen to be) to bury their heads in the sand seems not to have diminished over the decades, even in the full knowledge of where it inexorably leads. And, of course, even in the knowledge that the old excuse of “we just didn’t know,” or “we just never realised,” or the feeble “Oh, we’re all terribly sorry, now” (usually accompanied by crocodile tears of faux sadness and the obligatory artificial “shocked looks”) doesn’t actually absolve all those non-seers from the major part that they have played in the whole sorry episode. All that is needed for evil to prosper and all that ….
Grandad,
I’m heartily sick of having to sit in the vicinity of folk eating and having to breath the noxious steam rising from plates full of vegetables laden with nicotine…
Just In! This is Important! According to R.T. ( Russia Today ) There is a proposed bill to go through the lower Duma to ALLOW smoking rooms in Airports!!!!! The proposer of the bill says that people are forced to commit more serious offences because they are placed under an unfair duress. I don’t know if this bill will pass or be extended to other areas but at last, some common sense! ( But then the Russian Politik appears to be far more law abiding and astute than those in the west! ).
Last month the wise MPs of Austria voted to scrap a proposed ban on smoking in restaurants and bars – our MPs are too far up themselves to eat such humble pie but maybe the smarter ones are finally getting the message.
Austria now features on my list of potential holiday destinations – they deserve support.
H/T Joe L in the comments over at Frank’s place – apparently the city of Nevada, having initially banned smoking in all places serving food, some years ago revised the legislation to allow smoking in bars that DO serve food (provided minors were not allowed in – another plus!), and that restaurants are now allowed to have smoking and non-smoking sections. Apparently Pennsylvania and Florida also allow smoking in bars where a certain percentage of profit does not come from food sales. So that’s a few more places which can go back onto the holiday destination list! Interesting that none of these little snippets of news hit the headlines – now, I wonder why that is?