Chris, Dave, the Danube and me

Currently in a Viennese bar overlooking the Danube.

Three hours ago I was in another bar, in a hotel some kilometres outside Vienna, with a certain Dave Atherton. Chris Snowdon - another name familiar to readers of this blog - was in the vicinity too, threatening to visit the hotel sauna.

What are we doing in Austria? I will reveal all on Wednesday when I get back. I have invited Dave to write a guest post, and Chris will be blogging too, I'm sure.

I should mention that people are smoking (shock horror) in the bar where I am currently sitting, just as they were in the hotel restaurant last night. Writing as a non-smoker, I genuinely consider it to be the height of civility and quite wonderful to behold. I can't understand why Britain doesn't try it.

Sadly, if the tobacco control movement has its way, the unsuspecting Austrians around me could lose this precious freedom in the near future if a referendum goes against them. We must do everything we can to stop it happening.

Update on Monday, April 11, 2011 at 22:58 by Simon Clark

Dinner at Griechenbeisl, "the historic old Viennese inn since 1447" whose walls have been signed by, among others, Richard Wagner, Mark Twain, Johnny Cash, Ludwig v. Beethoven and a certain W A Mozart. Beef and onion soup followed by lamb chops, medium rare. Delicious.

Back to the hotel and there, in a shop window, I see a poster that reads: 'Lucky Strike Loves Austria'. I'm beginning to think that I do too.

Comments

[Jon]

So who's voting to stop the Austrians smoking? Is this a national referendum? They will find out, as we did, that the tyranny of the majority will prevail. No amount of talking will change the smoking ban. How about just a teeny weeny legal protest. Boycotting the donor register, refusing to give blood, opening smoking research establishments to test extraction equipment, refusing to answer health questionnaires. It's very easy to cause a lot of trouble without upsetting the general public.