I have to admit that when I first heard about this I honestly thought it was going to cause civil unrest. Not because of any preconceptions about the Irish (except that a lot of the Irish people I know smoke), but because I know what a bunch of crabby bastards smokers are when they haven't had a fag.
I seriously hope that if this law ever comes to the UK, which it looks like it might, it will be modified somewhat. Having mandatory no-smoking zones seems like a good idea to me, but having a blanket ban is a bit ott.
I'm not a smoker myself, but I would like my smoking friends to be able to have a fag now and then, mainly for the reasons cited above.
Why not have a limited number of smoking-licensed premises in each authority and make them pay extra tax for the smoking licence? But then I'm not an MP. Couldn't stomach all that booze...
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"No one was behaving from very Buddhist motives. Then, thought Pigsy, he was hardly a Buddha, nor was he a monkey. Presently, he was a pig spirit changed into a little girl pretending to be a little boy to be offered to a water monster. It was all very simple to a pig spirit."
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