Originally posted by Nilsen
Smoking has been banned for 2 years now here in resturants and bars. The business took a dive for a couple of months but are now back to normal, and some are even doing better than before. Even the majority of the smokers thinks it was a good idea. Never has so many quit smoking here either.. tobacco sales are down.
Im not sure about the statistics over in Britain. They started.. or atleast Ireland was first with the ban i belive.
Nilsen, yes Ireland banned smoking in public places like pubs and restaurants, and the UK is set to follow suit in 2007. However, a great many restaurants in the UK - eg. the Caffe Uno chain and the Ask chain have pre-empted the smoking ban by implementing their own non-smoking policy. Smoking at these places is now only allowed in outdoor areas. Also, pubs are doing the same thing - expanding their non-smoking areas in accordance with customer demands.
I don't think a tax on unhealthy food is the answer - maybe more education is. Blair's government is to ban vending machines in schools that sell junk like crisps (potato chips) and fizzy drinks/soda pop.
But I have a story to tell. Last Sunday morning I met up with Mietla at LHR Airport so that we could have lunch before he caught his flight back to San Francisco. I thought his flight was earlier than it actually was, so I was waiting at the Zone G UAL check-in area for quite a while before Mietla arrived. I was able to watch all the other passengers arriving, and - you guessed it - I was able to tell which ones were American quite easily. In some cases the clothes gave it away, but there were other tell-tale indicators. (No, I won't say it - lol) What I did notice was that one mixed party with an average age of around 60 were struggling to push their carts the few yards from the main entrance into Zone G. They were panting and perspiring at the end of it. OK, it was warm in London until yesterday, but a short walk like that should not have had anyone of that age breaking a sweat. One lady had to wipe off all her makeup and start again. She was in a right 2 and 8. She was somewhat rotund, to say the least.
The thing is, if only people could be steered away from junk/crap, they might actually prefer the healthy alternatives. I would prefer a fresh grapefruit juice over one of those full sugar soda pop drinks any time.
