Woman affirmed right to smoke in own garden

A feud in Åkarp in southern Sweden between a cigarette-puffing woman and her smoke-sensitive neighbour has finally been put to rest by Swedish courts.

On Friday, the the Environmental High Court made a final ruling that the woman may light up as much as she wants to in her own garden.

In its decision, the court said that the neighbour had been been unable to prove that the woman's smoke “poses such a significant threat to human health” that the environmental code would prescribe prohibiting the woman to smoke in the garden.

The conflict between the neighbours has been an ongoing legal saga since 2006. The smoke-sensitive neighbour, a lawyer, was so disturbed by the smoking that he wore a breathing mask whenever he was in his garden at the same time the woman was smoking.

In 2007, the Environmental Court in Växjö initially banned the woman from smoking in her own garden, ruling that she was banned from smoking within a nine metre radius of her neightbour's house.

The 49-year-old woman then appealed the decision to the Environmental High Court, which in turn found no reasonable grounds for an interim ban before a final decision was reached.

Bavaria relaxes smoking regulations

"Smokers in Bavaria rejoiced on Wednesday as the state’s parliament loosened the regulations on a smoking ban instituted 18 months ago." The new regulations are said to reflect reality and Bavaria’s “live and let live” attitude. Story HERE.

Funnily enough, we recently commissioned an article by musician and writer Joe Jackson. A supporter of Forest and the campaign to amend the smoking ban, Joe now lives in Berlin. He is currently on tour but took time out to write an 800-word article comparing British pubs and German bars. Here's a taste:

I’ve always loved pubs, but just how awful they are becoming wasn’t completely clear to me until I relocated a couple of years ago to Berlin. While too many English pubs these days are soulless, generic commercial enterprises, staffed by people who clearly don’t give a damn, Berlin bars are often wonderfully idiosyncratic, and operated and patronised by people who clearly love them.

In my neighbourhood there are, for instance, a bar run by a Frank Zappa lookalike who brews his own beer, a surreal dive run by an Albanian refugee who has Gypsy musicians playing on the street outside, a bar where patrons sit outside in an ex-Soviet Army jeep, and the world’s campiest gay bar, whose walls and ceilings are lined with pink fur.

Many bars are just holes in the wall, furnished with flea market junk, but made welcoming with a few candles, a few flowers, some local artwork, good music or good beer. Most allow smoking, though some don’t and others have separate rooms. They also keep their prices reasonable, keep their vodka in the freezer, serve mojitos in the summer and hot chocolate laced with rum in the winter, and open and close whenever they like. And why not? We’re adults, aren’t we?!

Source: Taking Liberties

Another one bites the dust-Save Our Pubs and Clubs

Nick Irwin is landlord of the Waggon and Horses pub in Sudbury, Suffolk. This week he was one of 18 publicans who signed the Save Our Pubs and Clubs letter that was published in the Telegraph.

Last night he appeared on BBC TV's Look East. It's a very interesting interview. Click HERE.

Antony Worrall Thompson was also on the programme but doesn't appear in the clip above.

Source: Taking Liberties

When is a ban not a ban?

Greece, we are informed, is the latest European country to adopt a ban on smoking in public places. According to Reuters, for example, "Greeks were banned from smoking at work and inside bars and restaurants on Wednesday".

Er, not quite. According to the same report:

"A last-minute amendment allows offices where more than 50 people work to have designated smoking areas. Restaurant and bar owners of properties of up to 70 square metres can decide whether their business is smoking or non smoking. Others can set up ventilated smoking areas."

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't be unhappy with a "ban" like that. Once again, the comprehensive ban in Britain and Ireland is shown to be draconian, unnecessary and out of step with most of the rest of Europe.

Full report HERE.

Sunday Express: amend smoking ban

The Sunday Express has an editorial praising Antony Worrall Thompson's support for our new campaign to amend the smoking ban:

It's great news that Antony Worrall Thompson is making a stand for common sense on cigarettes. The Government ban on smoking is forcing the closure of six pubs a day. Clubs and restaurants are also suffering while the number of smokers shows no decline and the health of the nation is unchanged.

Thompson’s campaign has backing from MPs from the three main parties and the group is fighting for reform when the law is reviewed next year. They’re asking for rooms in pubs and clubs to be set aside for smokers. It is a simple, sensible voluntary move that would improve our right to choose without damaging the health of others.

In a separate article, the paper reports:

Mr Worrall Thompson, who smokes 20 cigarettes a day, is one of Britain’s most prominent smoking campaigners. Though he admits that it is not a habit he is proud of, he says the issue is about liberty and free choice.

He claims that the Labour government chose to implement the most draconian smoking ban available, despite warnings about the dire economic and social consequences such a move could have.

“Why is it that on the Continent, governments gave bar owners a choice? In Spain, premises which are smaller than 100m square can choose whether they allow smoking or not but if they are bigger than this, they must provide clearly divided and ventilated smoking sections. That’s the model we want here,” he said.

Full report HERE.

Source: Taking Liberties

Sign up to save our pubs and clubs

If you haven't already done so you can sign up to support our new Save Our Pubs & Clubs campaign HERE.

Yesterday's launch (see HERE) was attended by Antony Worrall Thompson, Greg Knight MP (Conservative) and David Clelland MP (Labour), with a message of support from John Hemming MP (Lib Dem), and it's important that we get the message out and encourage as many people as possible to the support the campaign.

Note: the campaign website is best viewed in Safari, Firefox or Internet Explorer 8. If you a problem viewing the site on any other browser please let us know.

Update on Wednesday, June 24, 2009 by Simon Clark

Please support Greg Knight's position against anti-smoking comments HERE. See also the Beverley Guardian report HERE.

Source: Taking Liberties

Amend smoking ban says AWT

Forest patron Antony Worrall Thompson (above) launches the new Save Our Pubs & Clubs: AmendTheSmokingBan.com campaign.

We were joined at the Buckingham Arms in Westminster by the Rt Hon Greg Knight MP (Conservative) and David Clelland MP (Labour). Lib Dem MP John Hemming sent a message supporting the campaign.

The campaign is supported by Forest, the liberal think tank Progressive Vision, the Adam Smith Institute, which champions the free market, and the Manifesto Club which campaigns for “freedom in everyday life”. See press release HERE.

Apart from Antony, Greg Knight and David Clelland, speakers included Progressive Vision's Mark Littlewood and Josie Appleton of the Manifesto Club.

Other speakers were landlords Paul Lofthouse (Queen's Head, Coggleshall), Simon Esnard (Butcher's Arms, Luton) and Sean Spillane (Luton Social Club).

UKIP leader Nigel Farage made a surprise appearance and said his party would support the campaign in any way it could.

The ASI's Eamonn Butler has blogged about the launch HERE. Likewise Dick Puddlecote HERE.

Meanwhile:
TV chef joins campaign for limited pub smoking (Independent)
Amend smoking ban, save pubs (Morning Advertiser)
Campaigners launch bid to amend smoking ban (Publican)

Update: to support the campaign please click HERE.

Source: Taking Liberties