History, it is said, is written by the victors.
That's certainly true in Scotland where 15 years after the introduction of the smoking ban it's now portrayed as one of the great moments in Scottish history, up there with Bannockburn and Wembley (1967).
Yesterday Holyrood Magazine published a hilariously one-sided report featuring comments from Jack McConnell, who was first minister at the time; former West of Scotland MSP Stewart Maxwell; and Andy Kerr, Scotland’s minister for health (2004-2007).
You can read it here but I was particularly struck by some of McConnell’s comments, especially his suggestion that the smoking ban represented the moment the Scottish Parliament “came of age”.
What I find interesting is that an attack on pubs, property rights and civil liberties is considered such a positive defining moment, especially when he goes on to admit:
“I wasn’t certain that the parliament had gained enough authority in the eyes of the public to restrict liberties to that extent. And I was also a bit concerned about the balance between civil liberties and state intervention.
Not so concerned, obviously, to dial down the legislation and exempt pubs that didn't serve food or private members' clubs, or allow smoking rooms as they have in the European Parliament (a much admired institution in Scottish government circles).
Nevertheless I'm grateful to the former first minister for acknowledging that the smoking ban is a restriction of liberties. Nor is it a minor one otherwise he wouldn't have added "to that extent".
In hindsight what is clear is that the smoking ban was not only a defining moment for the Scottish parliament, it also encouraged both the Welsh Assembly and the Westminster parliament to follow suit.
Nor did it stop there.
I don't need to remind you of the tsunami of smoking-rated legislation that has been introduced since the smoking ban and with the government determined to meet its 'smoke free' target of 2030 it could go even further.
The smoking ban, more than any other piece of legislation in my lifetime, gave politicians the chance to restrict our liberties to a degree unimaginable since the war, so to those people objecting to the restrictions put in place during the pandemic (those over 35 at least), I would respectfully ask, "What did you do to oppose the smoking ban?"
I think I know the answer to that.
The most extraordinary thing about the smoking ban in Scotland is that McConnell was persuaded to restrict people's liberties not by popular opinion, which was split, but on the word of "an old guy in a pub" in Dublin and the views of the very people who, when I was growing up in Scotland, were never allowed in pubs and bars – children.
According to the former first minister, "every single representation I got from children or young people wanted at least a ban on smoking in public places.
But the "absolute clincher" was 'an encounter in a bar in Dublin in August [2004] that moved him from sceptic to enthusiast'.
Unbeknownst to even his own cabinet, he and an adviser headed over to Ireland a day ahead of an official visit and went on a pub crawl to chat to people about how they found the ban that had been in place there since March 2004.
“We met an old guy in the pub, and he told me that he had been really angry when the Irish government had proposed the ban,” McConnell said. “But he’d been a 40 a day smoker for most of his life and now he was down to three a day.
“He said it was the best decision the government had ever made.”
As it happens Scottish Labour lost power the following year (2007) and has never come close to regaining it.
I'm not suggesting the two things are related because the Scot Nats are every bit as keen to restrict liberties as most other parties in Scotland.
'My brush with Nicola Sturgeon' which dates back to 2002 will tell you all you need to know about the current first minister's attitude to smoking and the tobacco industry, for example.
Meanwhile where are the politicians who consider excessive restrictions to be a blight on our liberties? In a minority, that's for sure.
Some readers may draw a link with the restrictions introduced during the pandemic. To be clear, I support most of the restrictions but only if they are temporary and enforced with a bit of common sense.
I share many people's concern that some restrictions could become permanent and this is something we cannot allow to happen.
The problem is, as Jack McConnell has demonstrated, restricting age old liberties is now considered a badge of honour by many if not most politicians. How we reverse that is one of the big challenges we face over the next decade.