Saintandy666

How can you ensure that non-smokers will be able to not have their health damaged then while going about their everyday life. This smoking ban in indoor places is the best and fairest way. Reverting the smoking ban will also not save the pub for reasons I already said.

So would you instigate a law making sure they are only allowed to be x percentage of smoking pubs within an area?

This also, and what I talked about earlier about why younger people aren't going to pubs which is what kill them off in the end. I reckon the chains will do alright though because they can compete on price, and the better run pubs will be fine as well. It's a shame really, but pubs need to reform if they want to survive.

VAT is applied on fatty foods and such, whereas on essentials it isn't. But you can't really compare the two, eating a bar of chocolate next to someone doesn't harm that persons health, whereas smoking next to that person does... it's just real life application of the harm principle

Because that is not how it would pan out. The law for this kind of thing needs to be consistent. It is not fair for non-smokers health to be damaged by smokers habits.

The smoking ban won't mean anything to pubs either way unless you get my generation into pubs. What you lot are arguing over is irrelevant in the long term.

It's not about that at all though. It's about allowing those who choose not tosmoke, not to have their health damaged by those who chose to. It's not about knowing what is best for us at all. It's allowing a choice to the majority of the population who don't smoke. It's not stopping or banning smoking at all.

I don't think I am being selfish at all. If anyone is being selfish, it is smokers who are damaging the health of the non-smokers for something they do not have to do.

The main problem is that my generation don't really go to pubs, and I blame the stigmatisation of drinking in general which has exacerbated the problem. My Dad's generation, it seems, at least according to him were allowed into the pub at 16 and 17 with a wink from the barman and so they learnt to drink in a good environment and were attached to the pub culture for life. These days, that is nigh on impossible, so instead kids start down the park with a bottle of vodka at a similar age and that sets the precedent for the next 5-10 years of their life. If we want to change our culture and save our pubs, we need to change how the pubs are and make them more welcoming to all.

A lot of pubs don't have the separate rooms. To be honest, to draw the parallel of drink driving and 2nd hand smoking, with drink driving you kill the person right away, but you effectively do the same thing with 2nd hand smoke, just over years instead. I'm glad I don't have to be subjected to it anymore. It used to be bloody awful when I was younger everywhere we went. Smoke if you want to, but don't bring it on the non-smokers.

Well, I'm glad you agree with the drink driving laws, because if you didn't it would be utterly ridiculous. But don't you think the smoking laws are in a similar vein... i.e preventing you and your habits which are of course your own business from damaging others who chose not to do so?

Do you think drink driving laws and the smoking ban are bad then?

It's going to keep happening because we changed the way we drink, and the big chain pubs like Wetherspoons selling it much cheaper than the independent pubs doesn't help. It takes real effort to make a pub work these days. My local was dying a bit under previous ownership, but the new owners have really turned it around in the last few years with various events and stuff and have changed it into a place which is always busy.

I did a little bit of maths a while back on a thread to work out where we were headed for this season(yer, I'm cool like that), and I believe if I recall correctly I came out with 84ish points! Though that was a month or two back and circumstances have obviously changed.

He did very well in the second half today. Lots of clever balls and on the whole, he has done well for us over his time here. Lots of good link up play, plus goals and assists.

Just because we can't always do something, doesn't mean we shouldn't when we can.

Today, I am having some people over after work. Tomorrow, I will of course be at St. Mary's... where else? Followed by a fun day of work on Sunday. The life of a gap year student(can I even call myself a student at the moment... I guess not) is ridiculously exciting.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10629358 This page really brings the sacrifice home And that doesn't even show the thousands of Afghans, and soldiers of other nationalities who have also been killed.

19 First game way back in 2001, the season St. Mary's opened. Definitely remember us beating Charlton 1-0(think this may have been first game?!), our first win there, but can't remember anything else from that season! Did we beat Manchester United 2-1? :/ Definitely need my memory jogging.

I do think whether you have heard of him or not is an erroneous argument against action though, whatever your opinion on the 'Kony 2012' campaign, because Kony is very real and has done a lot of incredibly evil stuff. The capture and enslavement of 30,000 children over 30 years. He forces the girls to become sex slaves and the boys to fight for him.

The founders of Invisible Children Inc posing with guns with the Sudanese Liberation Army.

In fairness, it isn't that bad. 32% went on stuff on the ground, the rest salaries and video production... but yes, they are overly simplistic and support the Ugandan army who are hardly better and seem to also support full a scale invasion which won't help much. The campaign is also based on the pretence that American military advisers are in danger of being withdrawn, which they aren't. But the awareness is good.

I see and agree with the reason we went in, to dismantle Al Qaeda as a force and organisation in the area. The government isn't much interested in telling us how we are getting on with it though. In fact, there has been barely any debate of it in the HoC. It'll probably fall to pieces once we leave though. Like many areas in that region, you have governments trying to rule over 'nations' where tribal loyalty is more important.

The cause is a great one and Joseph Kony is obviously a dispicable and evil man. But the not for profit behind this, Invisible Children Inc are slightly dogey and I don't think most people who are supporting 'Kony 2012' know much about them and their methods and accounting. Awareness can only be a good thing though.

Not bad then. It's so tight at the top. If only we had won yesterday...