Wales – taking liberties
Thursday, July 16, 2020 at 16:06 I was on Wales at Six (ITV) yesterday.
The item, about a proposed ban on smoking outside pubs in Wales, starts at 01:02.
It features some strong words from publicans.
The issue got quite a bit of coverage in Wales and Forest was quoted by ITV Wales, BBC Wales, Wales Online and the Daily Post – but I'm not sure there was much that was about the story.
We already knew that minister for health Vaughan Gething wanted to extend the smoking ban to outdoor areas in Wales because he said so in a written statement on June 24:
I remain committed to making more of Wales’ public spaces smoke free and intend to progress work in the next Senedd term to extend the smoking ban to outdoor areas of cafes and restaurants and city and town centres.
Yesterday however Gething told a news conference, "There's nothing immediate in those plans", so I think it was a bit of mischief-making on the part of ASH Wales which was responsible for the press release that prompted the headlines.
Under Mark Drakeford's Labour government it will be no surprise if the smoking ban is extended to the outdoor areas of cafes and restaurants – maybe even pubs – but I can assure him, and Vaughan Gething, we won't let it happen without a fight.
It does however say a lot about the devolved governments in Scotland and Wales that one of the few ways they can put themselves on the map is by denying people yet another bit of their liberty.
As the ITV journalist said as he began the interview: "Wales, leading the way again ..."
Below: Talking to ITV Wales via Skype from my bedroom!
Reader Comments (4)
It seems the only way to get lawmakers to listen these days is to bring town centres to a halt with protest performing art, glue ourselves to tube trains, or smash things up, blockade roads, or pull down statues.
We have no chance. Smokers are seen but never heard and we are not the sort to riot which is why governments walk all over us. They know they can get away with it.
Ironically the Welsh government forgets that support for the smoking ban is a myth 58% of adults in Wales want smoking rooms in pubs.
Of course ASH—selectively—thinks public opinion doesn't matter.
Smokers must exert their rights!
Perhaps when everyone eventally wakes up and realises that we are all in the same boat when it comes to having no way of stopping these authoritarians things will change.
"We have no chance. Smokers are seen but never heard and we are not the sort to riot which is why governments walk all over us. They know they can get away with it."
Very true. We have no chance.