Swiss stay reasonable
Wednesday, September 26, 2012 at 9:49 I have a soft spot for Switzerland.
Shortly after the war my aunt Dorothy met Reini, a Swiss German. A year or two later they got married and she moved to Zurich where she has lived ever since.
Reini died several years ago. He was a wonderfully good-humoured man and I remember him with enormous affection. He enjoyed tennis and the last time I saw him he was sitting in his favourite armchair watching Wimbledon (Boris Becker, I think) on Swiss television.
Dorothy and Reini had two sons who are a little older than me, so I have two Swiss cousins and several much younger relatives, some of whom I met for the first time when we visited them last year.
We drove to Zurich via French-speaking Geneva and Lausanne. Zurich sits next to a very scenic lake and two hours north of the city we enjoyed some fantastic views of the Alps.
For all the panoramic beauty, however, there is ugliness. In the cities, for example, graffiti is commonplace. Perhaps it's a libertarian or rebellious response to a highly regulated society.
Many years ago I remember my aunt telling me that it was illegal to cut the grass on a Sunday in Switzerland (something to do with noise pollution, I think), and long before the UK adopted similar regulations the Swiss authorities would fine you for putting the wrong item in the 'wrong' dustbin.
In many respects the people are very conservative. In other ways they are very liberal. One of my cousins is a doctor, the other a dentist. When I raised the subject of euthanasia they couldn't understand why it should be an issue. To them it's quite normal.
Switzerland is full of contradictions. Everyone has to do National Service but they never see action because the country prides itself on its neutrality and they never go to war.
Anyway, on Sunday night it was reported that the Swiss have rejected, through one of their many referendums, a comprehensive nationwide ban on smoking in public places. (The BBC had the story here.)
Several bloggers including Chris Snowdon have already written about it so there's little I can add. Chris's post, in particular, says everything that needs to be said.
On Monday however I spoke briefly to Mark Butcher who lives in Geneva where he is director of Radio Frontier and founder of the Anglo Media Group. Mark occasionally comments on this blog and I thought it would be interesting to hear what he had to say.
I paraphrase but the gist of his comments was this:
The referendum was expected to fail because people are "generally happy" with the current regulations, but the size of the vote (66 per cent voted against a comprehensive ban) surprised everyone.
There was a double majority with both the people and the cantons voting against. Every canton, with the exception of Geneva (which already has a comprehensive ban), voted against. In Geneva the vote was close (52-48 per cent). In other cantons there was a "very strong no".
Mark thought the result represented a vote against too much "nanny statism". The Swiss "don't want to build a country on prohibition".
Another factor, he suggested, is that the cantons want to make their own laws and not have laws imposed on them. That said, in another referendum, 73 per cent voted in favour of a federal regulation concerning music in schools so this alone does not explain the result.
Interestingly, campaigners against prohibition didn't make an issue of the alleged effects of passive smoking. As for ventilation, the subject "didn't come up".
Instead, says Mark, the campaign in Switzerland was won on the back of a simple slogan that translates as "Stay reasonable".
Sounds good to me (and a useful lesson for campaigners in the UK).
Full story: Where there's still smoke: Swiss stub out their plan to ban smoking in restaurants (Independent)
Reader Comments (6)
My understanding is that Geneva is not the only canton with a comprehensive ban. If that is the case then these results suggest that bans in other parts of Switzerland are not supported by the public and are therefore undemocratic. Am I mistaken?
Canton Vaud also has a fairly comprehensive ban - but also allows fumoirs. The strictest bans are in the French speaking areas of the country, broadly speaking (canton Jura remains liberal). This mix of laws - and how they're enforced - was the main reasoning behind the vote. It seems the Swiss like having a confused situation - it sums up their federal outlook. I like it too! Imagine the situation in the UK if smoking policy was up to councils - glorious confusion!
One interesting point - as we are all libertarians here - Zurich, for example, does allow for smoking in smaller bars, but many have chosen voluntarily to ban it. That's fine in my book - they have made their own business choice. But there are still bars where you can have a smoke. I do think that if the UK did change the law where we could smoke in a pub, many will stay non-smoking by choice. This should be pointed out to the pro-ban types who'll say 'but I don't want to go to a smokey pub' - I'm sure they will have plenty of non-smoking pubs to go to even if the ban were lifted.
Choice for both sides is possible but it'll never happen while hysterics are saying such things as this to base their argument on and Govt continues to back the bigots and bullies:
"...the hysterical over-reactions against anyone who suggests that,
actually, pubs (and restaurants, and cinemas, and workplaces) are vastly pleasanter places now that smoking is banned, and so on. If you want to smoke, feck off and do it in an enclosed room with other addicts, and let the rest of us who can't stand your stench enjoy our freedom from your obsessions and addictions."
http://patnurseblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/on-bans-and-bigots.html#disqus_thread
The last post illustrates why 'stay reasonable' is not such a great strategy in the UK. The UK is not Switzerland and the people we are up against are not remotely reasonable. Not to mention, 5 years into a total ban, and more antismoking propaganda than ever, 'reasonable' has simply not worked. Something more aggressive is needed, though frankly I can't see what any more, in such a culture of passivity and hopelessness.
Mark, I agree that many pubs would stay nonsmoking. That is also what happened in the Netherlands. The anti smoking industry isn't interested - it just wants smoking, and now even nicotine, banned completely. The major worry of the ordinary person who doesn't like smoky surroundings is that most pubs will revert back to smoking, and it's very difficult to convince him otherwise.
The German state of Nordrhein-Westfallen has a very reasonable system with both smoking and nonsmoking bars and plenty of both to satisfy everyone--except, of course the fanatical antismokers, who are now trying to ban smoking everywhere.