Saturday
Jun292013
Look North: should the smoking ban be amended?
Saturday, June 29, 2013 at 14:22 
Last night's Look North on BBC1.
The report about the smoking ban starts after ten minutes. (Only available to view for a few more hours.)
Reader Comments (17)
I noted how Levy only pulled comments that supported his own prejudices about smoking - 3 against fairness and 1 for equality which he ridiculed with a sardonic smile as he read it.
The tweets he chose were clearly from the sanctimonious who wouldn't be seen dead anywhere a working class working man's club anyway.
You were great though Simon and what you said would have hit a strong chord with those working class viewers that Look North and Levy ignore for not quite being posh enough.
We can't win. Either we're toffs and cringeworthy according to abusive smoking cessation worker @smokefreewolf on Twitter - or too common for the likes of toffs like Levy.
You were brilliant Simon!...Only wish you'd mentioned the seventies, when every man and his dog were smokers and asthma was non-existant!
BTW, thanks to all at Friends of Forest FB page for their kind comments on my radio slots yesterday. I left the group because I had to try and concentrate on other things but I am still very much a Friend.
Well done Simon. Anti-smokers often say that the asthma rate has declined since the smoking ban, but the asthma rate has increased threefold while the smoking rate has halved.
The health guy is the studio was wrong to say that the Health Act considered 'amendments' and discarded them as if a comprehensive ban was always the plan. The original proposal was for pubs that don't sell food and private members' clubs to be excluded - it was last minute amendments from the tobacco control industry which changed it from a reasonable law incorporating choice into the abomination we have today.
Very well done, Simon. Over the past couple of days, you and Pat have done very well. Keep at it, it'll get through eventually.
It appears Levy read out more tweets than I heard. Dunno how I missed them as I watched live
You did well Simon, but I do differ on one point.
Private members clubs should be allowed to set their own smoking policy according to the wishes of the majority of their members. With pubs it should be up to the landlord.
Any talk of separate smoking rooms is playing to the hands of the anti’s.
Well done, Simon - this is what we need: assertive, non-apologetic, fact-filled comments. The guy in the studio (Tim Allison?) was absolutely stumped when it was put to him that, if people can't smoke in public, they'll smoke at home, racking his brains and failing miserably to address that fact.
I'm tentatively hopeful that they're on the run: you can fool some of the people etc. The template is being applied to other products (God, TC must hate those other fake charities) and, at the same time, TC's pronouncements are becoming increasingly unbelievable to those who previously swallowed the propaganda. We just have to wait for politicians to catch up.
Peter Levy has always held a bias view towards smoking and smokers, I really don't know why anyone bothers with going on programme's like these.
It is always the same. I bet if Simon refused to appear on Look North because of bias, Levy would just say we contacted Simon Clark, but he didn't want to appear. There would be no mention of any bias.
I'm in the South Yorkshire region and have seen almost all items relating to the smoking ban - never once on any occasion has balance ever been shown.
Pat mentioned his smirk, she's right because I've seen it in reference to this issue before. I knew perfectly well he would be selective when reading out the tweets, because he has been selective in the past when reading out emails before on the smoking ban. I had no intention of watching this and I shan't in the future either. Balance? My backside!
Peter Levy is a little s**t and nothing more.
Commenters here have said you did well and I'm pleased you did.
I don't want smoking rooms either. No politician has the right to tell me I can't go down to my local pub and have a pint of beer and a smoke, that's down to the landlord and the landlady it's their business they run it not some half-wit politician. Patricia Hewitt offered a compromise remember, ' any pub or bar that didn't serve or prepare food would be excempt from the ban and any private members club could ballot their members and decide if they wanted to be smoke free or allow smoking.' I voted Labour on the strength of this, and so did millions of others.
This was the Labour manifesto pledge of 2005 which they reneged on. They did have a free vote which brough in the ban.
When was the last time they had a free vote on a manifesto pledge? Why not just implement the pledge, which is what people voted for in the first place.
In a perfect world publicans could choose a policy on smoking that best suited their business, based on customer demand, and members of private clubs could do likewise. I want that as much as anyone. Unfortunately we are where we are and the only option that currently has any any traction with a substantial number of MPs is separate smoking rooms. Going further at this stage would undermine that support.
Re programmes like Look North, give them credit for at least discussing the issue. No offence, but it's a bit defeatist to say, 'Why do you bother going on programmes like that?'. What's the alternative? Should we let the other side have a platform all to themselves?
It's important to take every opportunity to argue our case. To do otherwise is to throw in the towel which we will never do.
I assume you're referring to my comment, in which case my name is Jeff. At least I've taken the trouble to make a comment, so don't be so thin skinned.
If believe smoking rooms are ok then that's fine for you - I don't. You are still stigmatized as being 'A smoker' which still lays you open to abuse and persecution and therefore should be kept away from others in society that don't smoke. Or doesn't that count?
I've written to my MP on several occasions and he doesn't care about any smoking rooms in pubs, he just likes things the way they are.
Why can't landlords and landladies make their own decisions?
Jeff, smoking rooms or smoking pubs would be one massive concession which, as TC fully understand, would bring the whole house of cards tumbling down. That is why they are so vehemently against it.
Which is more likely? A smoking room or a repeal? I support your attitudes completely but we have to be practical.
Those who complain about Forest campaigning on comfortable smoking rooms are ignoring the reality. The ban is in place and it will not simply be removed overnight. A comfortable smoking room though would be an amendment to it, and that is doable.
Think what would happen were there to be a legal and comfortable smoking room in your own local? Many commentators here in Ireland maintain that it would be full all the time and the rest of the pub would be empty. Others have gone so far as to suggest that non-smokers would be isolated and alone in the big cavernous area while the smoking room would be hopping with fun and laughter. Would that emerge at a pub near you do you think? And if so, how would the ban appear to people then?
Smoking restrictions are being introduced bit-by-bit and they will probably only be rolled back bit-by-bit also. Comfortable smoking rooms would be a good place to start I believe. Then, we would all have an excellent meeting place to fit and discuss how we can fight all the other restrictions !
Jeff, if I was thin skinned I wouldn't be working for Forest, believe me! Just trying to engage with a reader and make a serious point.
Godfrey Bloom has just been holding his own on BBC1 Sunday Politics ,Yorkshire Region, about working mens clubs having seperate smoking rooms.
He was outnumbered of course. The Conservative MEP states that Roy Castle died of 'passive smoking', he naturally wasn't asked by the presenter on what evidence that statement was based.
I think you will be able to catch it on iplayer, it's worth watching.
Smokers should have as much right to be accommodated inside pubs as any other group of people. Modern air management systems work and the original argument used to introduce the ban to protect bar staff from effects of shs holds no weight at all.
Many thousands of people have stopped using pubs and the ban leaves elderly and disabled people excluded from society.
It means smokers can't be social for most of the year and our hospitality industry that won't stand up for its self, is seriously undervalued as a result. Using health as an excuse to persecute a minority it leaves people with nowhere to go other than to sit outside in the cold or stay at home.
This law is an abomination.