Hockney calls for 'smoking rooms'

[deewal]

British artist David Hockney is backing calls for a review of the smoking ban which he says is destroying "bohemia". The 72-year-old lifelong smoker is supporting moves by a cross-party group of MPs to amend the UK smoking laws.
They want people to be able to light up in designated smoking rooms to prevent pubs that are losing trade closing.
Mr Hockney told the BBC's Politics Show he missed being able to smoke in his favourite cafe in east Yorkshire while admiring the view.
He accused former Prime Minister Tony Blair and his successor Gordon Brown of interfering in his life and said: "I loathe them for it."
"I am not that interested in politics. I didn't care about any until recently," he added.
East Yorkshire Conservative MP Greg Knight, who also supports the campaign, says that without a relaxation of smoking laws hundreds more pubs and clubs may be forced to close as they lose trade from smokers.
Smoking was banned in England in all public indoor spaces, including places of work, pubs, restaurants and nightclubs in 2007. The ban also applies in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
BBC NEWS | UK | Hockney calls for 'smoking rooms'

Digg this please folks. It may not be about us but it's a step in the right direction.

Hockney calls for 'smoking rooms'

[mm485]

I never understood why that wasn't the first line of action. When I worked for BMG Music years ago, they had one with this awesome state-of-the-art ventilation system. No one ever complained about lingering smells or second-hand smoke. It was also their way of keeping you the building rather than going outside

[SpaceCadet]

The law is so inflexible in the UK! Utter rubbish! I was absolutely gobsmacked on my last holiday in California to find both an owner-operated bar allowing smoking throughout (in Sonora), and a bar with a smoking room (San Francisco). There are still loopholes that allow this stuff to go on, in what is perhaps perceived as the most aggressively anti-smoking part of the world!

I'm off to New York next week, and found a list of bars allowing smoking. These tend to be snooty places, with the emphasis on cigar smoking (yuck), but I may give the Karma bar a go - it's more of a shisha bar, but cigs are fine and it seems the closest to my kind of pub! Here's a link to smoker-friendly places in New York, with links to other US cities: New York City Smoking Bars, New York City Smoking Restaurants & New York City Cigar Bars. Smoking Friendly Places in New York City

Good on Mr Hockney

[RooksGambit]

A bar where I live, Squire's Tavern, found an interesting way around the Lexington smoking ban. It seems that smoking is allowed if a private space is reserved by an organization, club, or any sort of "official" gathering of like-minded folks.

So, in the pool hall half of the bar, there's a little sign up sheet. As long as you have signed it, you are a member of the "Lexington Smokers Society", which has a permanent reservation in that part of the building.

And apparently, it flies.

-Rook

[misterME]

Just be careful what you wish for. The Best Buy headquarters in St Paul, MN banned all smoking on the grounds. When the smokers got together and petitioned to have some sort of smoking area or room, the powers that be built enclosed spaces on all odd numbered floors of the parking garage. They were like bus stops (that thick Plexiglas material), except totally enclosed. The ventilation systems were terrible, meaning when you walked into one, you almost passed out from the cloud of smoke in the air. You reeked of smoke all day (and even heavy smokers could smell it on themselves) from even one 5 minute exposure in one of the things. I'm sure spending any appreciable time in one would hasten the ill effects of smoking, putting smokers' lives at serious risk. But who cares about smokers' health...?

Asking for smoking rooms may not get you what you're looking for...

[deewal]

Just be careful what you wish for.

It's not me who's wishing for it. It's David Hockney and he's standing up for his Rights and telling the Government to stop telling him what he can eat, drink, smoke or Think.
This is a British affair and as i pointed out "It may not be about us but it's a step in the right direction."
I was just trying to get a little support from the Community as it it is about Our Rights which we a losing everyday and as the same thing seems to be happening to you in the US i thought you may be interested in the fact that a Major Artist has spoken out and it has made the National Media. The BBC and all the Major Newspapers are covering this story.
It will not go unnoticed by The Government that the people of Britain do not want a Fascist State.

[misterME]

It's not me who's wishing for it. It's David Hockney and he's standing up for his Rights and telling the Government to stop telling him what he can eat, drink, smoke or Think.
This is a British affair and as i pointed out "It may not be about us but it's a step in the right direction."
I was just trying to get a little support from the Community as it it is about Our Rights which we a losing everyday and as the same thing seems to be happening to you in the US i thought you may be interested in the fact that a Major Artist has spoken out and it has made the National Media. The BBC and all the Major Newspapers are covering this story.
It will not go unnoticed by The Government that the people of Britain do not want a Fascist State.

Whoa, Nellie... The comment "Be careful what you wish for" wasn't directed at you, deewal, or anyone else for that matter. It's an expression. And I wasn't condemning you for posting this or him for standing up for his rights. I was just relaying one personal story of what happened when smokers here in the US petitioned for "smoking rooms", that they were given their wish and screwed over at the same time.

When I smoked analogs, I found all smoking bans to be particularly ridiculous, especially considering they were based on the non-existent findings of the second-hand smoke studies. Unfortunately, I don't think the comments of one artist, no matter how popular or eloquent, are going to impact the smoking ban in the UK, but I could be wrong. And I wish him luck all the same.

[PlanetScribbles]

I think it's great that a big name is standing up for the ordinary person at large. For a lot of older people, a quiet smoke and a beer down the local is all they have. It's a disgrace that hundreds of years of British tradition are going down the pan in the name of political correctness.
Yeah, protect non-smokers by all means. But don't trample all over the human rights of smokers at the same time
Everyone has rights, not just non-smokers.

[Sheryl]

In Minn. many smokers hang out at the Indian owned casino's, it can get costly though if ya like to gamble.