Tuesday, February 14, 2006

So the government did in fact get its ID card proposals through the Commons and with a half-decent majority too. This size victory was quite well known - if the government were really in trouble I think they'd have had good ol' Tone back from SA by hook or by crook (probably, given this government, the latter). He wouldn't want to see another piece of cornerstone legislation lost by a vote and miss voting himself! The BBC Reports 20 Labour rebels, and I fear the normal mix of lefty Bob Marshall-Andrews, former Cabinet supremo turned looney Clare Short and Hayes & Harlington's very own John McDonnell.

Today the big vote is on the smoking ban.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Banning smoking is such a stupid idea. Yes, ban it around food, but to ban it in all pubs etc. is health and safety gone mad. Surely the decision should be left to the individual pubs, then it's up to the customers - if they don't like it, move down the road to somewhere where there aren't any smokers. As a non-smoker I have absolutely no problem with people smoking around me and if I did, then I'd move. Bah. It's absolutely disgusting.

Antony said...

As a wise man once sain: "Well... quite."

Apparently, Weatherspoon's sales dropped 7% after some of their pubs went non-smoking. Certainly I enjoy my local (as a non-smoker) more but it does have fewer customers.

I enjoyed listening to a recent radio phone in where one barmaid (who confessed to being a Labour member) said how her health ws more important than somebody's right to smoke whilst another said that she knew about smoke before taking the job on and expected a health hazard.

Miners, policemen, soldiers all know they could be hurt in the line of duty when they take up their jobs. That's all I'm saying.