Stand up and winge!

I may have mentioned before, but it annoyed me yet again this week how much English people winge about stuff but put up with it. I refer specifically to the impending ban on smoking in all public places, which hardly anyone I know agrees with, whether they smoke or not. Most people do agree that smoking is not healthy and would support a policy where premises such as pubs and clubs were obliged to provide no smoking areas, but to impose a total ban is seen as unnecessary and extreme by the majority of people I have talked to.

It is the fact that more and more, in practically every area of life, we are being told what we can can't do. This week, the 'non-smoking police' came to visit my boss, and the next day, a sign appeared on the door to the premises saying “it is illegal to smoke on these premises”. I felt like writing underneath “not 'til 1st July!” Our offices are already no smoking and people go outside for a cig. I asked my boss why the sign was already up and she informed me that that was the guidance. For a lefty who probably spent time at Greenham Common in her younger days, I found this a surprisingly conformist attitude. Even more so as I haven't seen these signs up anywhere else as yet.

One thing that may not have dawned on a lot of people is that if a professional comes to visit you at home in a work capacity, it is illegal for you to smoke while they are there. Firstly, where do they get off telling you what you can and can't do in your own space, and secondly, what about people that need lots of care at home and people like nurses are there all or most of the time? It really is ludicrous.

The point is though, that nobody ever stands up and says 'no!' anymore. We will winge and but we will comply. Everyone says there's no point actively opposing the ban as no-one else will. This is tru if you have that attitude, but if people stuck together, we could change things, but no-one will.

Someone said yesterday 'what's next?' Well, as reported in the press last week, it's clamping down on people drinking wine at home. Excuse me, but as above this is totally ridiculous. What I do in my home is my business, whether the powers that be think it's good for me or not. Fuck off and stop telling us what to do!