There was an item that came out during the week.

Workers face cigarette break ban under anti-smoking plan.

Now this headline is a little misleading.  It implies that smokers can’t take a break, whereas it really means that smokers cannot smoke [or vape] at any time, whether they are on a break, indoors, outdoors or in fact any time between leaving for work and returning home again.

The topic has been covered by Simon Clark, Dick Puddlecote and in The Bolton Smokers Club, Frank Davis [and possibly a few others as well].

What struck me about the affair is not so much the actions of Dundee Council but the thinking behind it and the prospects for the future.  According to their reasoning it’s “for the health of their workers” and “reduce the number of adult ‘role models’ seen with cigarettes in public“.  While the former is none of the council’s business, the latter is patently laughable.

We have reached the stage where smokers are banned from all indoor public [and some privately owned] places.  There are bans creeping outdoors, not just beyond the grounds but the surrounding areas as well.  Companies are banning smokers from employment.  The bans are even creeping into the home, where landlords and apartment owners are turning away smokers.

This has obviously nothing to do with health.  The excuses are getting ever more facile to the point of ridicule.  Why are they getting away with this?

The answer is simple.  They claim they are trying to “denormalise” smoking whereas the real reason is that they are trying to “normalise” hatred of smoking and smokers.  While governments talk freely about inclusiveness and tolerance they are tacitly condoning hatred amongst people towards a minority.  They talk about racial discrimination and religious tolerance and are policing the Internet for “hate speech” yet they openly and freely endorse hatred of smokers.  Not only are they condoning it, they are actively encouraging it.

I can’t help but wonder what the future holds.

Arbeit macht frei?