European Tribune - Community, Politics & Progress.

A LQD on smoking

by Ted Welch
Fri Jan 11th, 2008 at 05:56:00 PM EST

a Lazy quick diary on smoking.

Oh joy, I just did a tour of cafes/bars in Nice - and what do you know - the French ARE respecting the ban. You can go into a bar, sample wines, if that's your thing, and NOT have some smoking cretin beside you ruin the experience.

I must admit I found it hard to believe - but that reflects the power of vested interests to distort the view one has of smokers in France. The local paper - Nice Matin - had had coverage implying sympathy for the poor smokers who were being deprived of the right to pollute the air we breathed. I don't throw my choice of drink over them. There was not, of course, the coverage which started from the view that smoking is an incredibly stupid thing to do, and that inflicting it on others raises their chances of dying as a consequence, apart from being an unneighbourly and, arguably, stupid thing to do.

Mr de Villepin made the announcement in a television interview.
"We started on the basis of a simple observation - two figures: 60,000 deaths a year in our country linked directly to tobacco consumption and 5,000 deaths linked to passive smoking.
"It is an unacceptable reality in our country in terms of public health," he said.
BBC

Note that the deaths are comparable to about 20 9/11 attacks each year.

I think the French (whether consciously or not) have been very smart about the way they've introduced this. So, having introduced the ban in public buildings, including offices, shops, etc., they've accustomed smokers to standing outside and sucking pathetically on their cancer-sticks - announcing to everyone their dumb addiction. So when the ban applied to cafes, bars, etc. smokers were accustomed to standing outside (not usually a big problem in Nice), so fell rather easily into the habit of standing outside bars, cafes, etc., in the evening.

I must admit that I'd also swallowed the tobacco companies' propaganda and thought that the French - unlike the Italians, Irish, etc. - wouldn't accept this law - but they were.

The sole exception which I witnessed was in a "pub" opposite the very popular Irish pub, Ma Nolans, in the old town. While the former was packed with a lot of young smokers outside, this pub was almost deserted. I welcomed the calm, but one of the only two guys in the place lit a cigarette - I raised an eyebrow and said I thought it was non-smoking now. I expected an argument, but the smoker just scuttled outside - ah bliss ;-)

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A LQD on smoking | 7 comments (7 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: A LQD on smoking (none / 0)

Good to hear, just last summer al the brasseries in Western France were off-limits for me.

But, [ET Moderation Technology™] This was also meant for you. (I did the changes in this diary.)

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Fri Jan 11th, 2008 at 07:13:23 PM EST

Re: A LQD on smoking (none / 0)

Thanks for doing that - I'm afraid my "research" last night took a bit of a toll - I'm still in recovery mode :-) I was having a bit of a job hitting the right keys - I'm amazed it's relatively error-free.

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner - that I moved to Nice. Blog - Nice Experience

by Ted Welch (tedwelch-at-mac-dot-com) on Sat Jan 12th, 2008 at 10:43:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: A LQD on smoking (none / 0)

BTW, there has been a restaurant tobacco ban in French restaurants before, in the nineties, which really failed. I don't know the reasons, but I hope your reasoning as to why it works now holds.

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Fri Jan 11th, 2008 at 07:15:08 PM EST

Re: A LQD on smoking (none / 1)

As I recall, there was no ban. Bars and restaurants were under the obligation to separate their space into smoking and no-smoking areas. Some restaurants did, but cafés didn't.

I remember asking for the no-smoking area in a large café some years back, and being shown to a single table.

When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Sat Jan 12th, 2008 at 01:41:19 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: A LQD on smoking (none / 0)

Wasn't the ruling that if they can't separate into physical.ly separated smoking and non-smoking parts, then the entire room has to be non-smoking? (Maybe I mix it up with the ruling of another country.)

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Sat Jan 12th, 2008 at 07:37:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: A LQD on smoking (none / 1)

... the country's efforts to legislate against smoking have always failed. Advertising by tobacco companies was curtailed as far back as 1976, but flagrant breaches were tolerated. It took France until 1987 - more than 20 years after Britain - to produce a study showing that smoking was responsible for 50,000 deaths a year. After a further six years, the Loi Evin introduced the concept of smoke-free areas in restaurants and offices, but the legislation was never enforced.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,,2233255,00.html

It was ridiculous - the smoke just filled the "no smoking" areas too and often the area was at the back, far from the door, where all the smoke seemed to gather. In one Paris cafe they had about one meter of the bar designated non-smoking! When I occupied it and complained when a guy lit up right beside me the bar maid reassured him it was OK. Apparently there are only about 26% daily smokers in France - surprisingly small given the amount of them in bars, etc. But a survey found that about 60% of people said they would go to bars and restaurants more often IF there was a smoking ban - so fears about loss of custom may be misplaced. In fact the huge La Coupole became smoke-free in 2006 and had no loss of customers. 70% of the French support the ban and 50% of smokers support it.

Some of the Parisian cafes and bars, meanwhile, are regarding the health ministry pamphlet 'Sortons du brouillard' ('Let's get out of the fog') as providing a creative challenge. 'The ban does not apply to outdoor terraces which are partially open,' said Mickael Serrain, manager at Cafe Bastille, who faces a potential €750 ban if he gets it all wrong.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,,2233255,00.html

So it's not quite bliss; one of the things I like about Nice is the climate and being able to sit outside in the evenings most of the year. But now terraces, which often had smokers, will now be packed with them.

Meanwhile it's been unusually rainy here for a few days, so I've had plenty of opportunity for schadenfreude as smokers huddle outside, under what shelter they can get :-)

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner - that I moved to Nice. Blog - Nice Experience

by Ted Welch (tedwelch-at-mac-dot-com) on Sat Jan 12th, 2008 at 11:30:11 AM EST
[ Parent ]

I think (none / 1)

that one of the reasons in the bias in coverage of the issue smoking in the media is that all journalists smoke.

But maybe they'll notice that cafés are a lot more pleasant now - and have changing crowds this year, with families and kids now suddenly present in such places.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (jeromeguillet@yahoo.fr) on Sun Jan 13th, 2008 at 04:52:01 PM EST

A LQD on smoking | 7 comments (7 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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