On 20/02/2009, Bru <[email protected]> wrote: > Nigel Stanley wrote ... > > > > though I don't miss the smokers' fug. > > Well I hope you're not going to miss the pubs as well then! > > 'Cos if you talk to the people at the sharp end, business has been going > right down the tubes ever since the smoking ban - whatever b*llsh*t the > government might like to spout
The government resisted the smoking ban for years - and it was passed on a free vote. It's impossible to prove the causality, but pub closures started long before the smoking ban - and in my view reflect wider social, cultural and economic changes. I don't deny the smoking ban may have had a negative impact in some places (though probably positive elsewhere). But its main attraction as an explanation is that it was the only possible contributory factor that occurred overnight. All the other changes have been gradual. -- Nigel Stanley
