So smoking has been banned in the UK..

Sorta. At least it's now to be banned in all pubs, restaurants, bars etc etc across the UK. It's been coming for the last couple of years so I'm not surprised.

This has been sorta been rumbling under in my job, since I work for a magazine that goes to the licensed and catering trade in the UK, so this has been an issue for a while now.

Of course, I'm torn about this. In one respect you could argue it infringes people's rights and will have a detrimental effect on the hospitality trade (have to agree with that) and on the other hand you can argue having to breathe in other's smoke is also an infringement of people's rights and anything that encourages people to stop killing themselves with smoking can only be a good thing.

So... I dunno really. A partial ban would never work logistically and would have been more damaging to businesses, but may have been fairer to consumers. Although the partial ban suggested by the Government where members clubs would have been excluded would have been wildly unfair.

No easy answer to that one...

Anyway, what prompted this musing was the fact that Warren Ellis mentioned it on warrenellis.com and got a mix of responses. This one got me:

"You know what? I have relatively common (and more common every day from what I read in the news) allergies: house dust, pollen, pet dander. Where are the campaigns to eliminate deep-pile carpeting, to put all ragweed to the torch, to ban cats from any “public” space? Eh? And my allergies are mild; people actually DIE (and much more quickly than from secondhand smoke) from peanut allergies, etc. Why are warning labels on the packages good enough when it comes to peanuts, but tobacco smoke cannot be allowed within 50 yards of anyone, ever?"

My response:

"That comparrison would only ring true if people stood in pubs tossing peanuts randomly at people with allergies from across the room. ;)"

Warren Ellis' response:

"I would pay money to watch that sport on TV."



Oh, and it's warren_ellis' birthday today, although there's fuck all chance of him reading this, Happy Birthday anyway. Because anyone who can write the genius that is Nextwave and Desolation Jones deserves cake. Lots of cake.

It's a sign of the times

For a few seconds this morning, my messages were displayed on an LED sign in Canada.





You can upload a photo or enter a text message. Try it.

So cool.

ALPYMCA

Guest week over at Alien Loves Predator forced me to do this, your honour.

Icon love.

Oh and I did almost forget...

...but it's my 30th birthday on Saturday.
Send money.