Apparently the majority of litter in this country consists of cigarette butts.

Well, quelle surprise!

What the fuck did they expect when they exiled all smokers to the outdoors?

Back in the days when sanity ruled the earth people would go for a pint, and there, within arms reach was an ashtray.  When they got into work, there on their desk would be an ashtray.  Cigarette smokers are forever dropping ash and were in the habit of just reaching out to their ashtray and having a quick flick.  But the streets have no ashtrays.  You’re lucky if there is even a litter bin.  Okay, there are those little boxes stuck to the wall outside every premises these days but they are more like letter boxes for midgets and are not designed for the stubbing of cigarettes.  So people flick their ash on the ground and naturally when they are finished, that’s where the butt goes too.

The gubmint is “considering ways” to reduce this problem.  Naturally the first thing that comes to mind is increased penalties.  After all, every problem can be solved by increasing taxes, prices or fines?  That’s their mindset and they will not shift from that.

There is of course a much simpler answer.  An answer that would cost the gubmint nothing, would stop the decline in the hospitality industry and – dare I say it? – give our tourist industry a nice little boost.

And what is this answer?  Remove that fucking smoking ban, of course.

Let the publicans, the café owners, the hoteliers and everyone else who owns their own property set their own bans.  If a publican doesn’t like smokers then he can have his own ban.  He can stand and watch the punters pass by as they head for the pub that doesn’t give a shit whether people smoke or not.  The non-smokers can equally have a choice as to which institution they want to frequent.  Everybody is happy [except maybe the non-smoking establishment which will probably be empty].

The likes of FOREST spend their time campaigning for smoking rooms which is an anathema to me as it is licking up to the antis and a tacit admission that the smoking laws were in some way reasonable.  The smoking laws were inherently wrong from the very start for one simple reason – it dictated to business owners what they should allow on their own property. If I buy a pub then it is my property and my rules.  If I want to sell only Guinness then that’s fine and my lack of trade will reflect on that decision.  If I want to allow only pipe smokers then the same will apply.  The gubmint should have no say whatsoever in the way I decide to run my own property.

So there is the answer to their litter problem.  Ashtrays on all the tables in pubs, bars, restaurants and wherever the proprietor wishes to place them.

I guarantee the streets would be a lot cleaner.