Jus' messing around

Despite hiatus, I can't stop messing around with this blog. Changed the format 'cos the previous template had been messed around with so much, it bore no relation to the original one. If you check it over and are thinking, "Hey - reprobate boy has deleted me from his side-bar, the ignorant swine", I can assure you this was an accident: while attempting to put them in alphabetical order, they were all over the bloody place and there was much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth as I managed to lose several of them in the process.

Anyway, continuing on this almost completely trivial note, I see the Cabinet has decided to follow the pattern up here and ban smoking completely:

"Smoking is set to be banned completely in pubs and restaurants in England after cabinet ministers united to demand a U-turn on plans for a partial ban...

Blair has let it be known that if the cabinet, which meets shortly to consider Hewitt's proposals, can agree on an outright ban, he will not stand in the way. Hewitt has now won the backing of cabinet big hitters - including the Chancellor Gordon Brown, Tessa Jowell, whose Culture Department oversees the pub industry, and Trade Secretary Alan Johnson.

The Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, who once opposed the ban, has also indicated he will not block a majority of colleagues. This leaves opposition only from John Reid, who as Health Secretary drew up the original plans for a limited ban."

So it's Gordy's fault, is it? Typical Calvinist attitude: don't think he's worried about your health; he's concerned that people might be enjoying themselves. It's not entirely insignificant that opposition came from the two genuinely working-class members of the Cabinet - although I see John Prescott has now caved-in.

Now, if they'd be wise - they would have left it until they see how it goes up here and watched the results carefully. After all, the last time anything was introduced in Scotland before England was the poll tax and Maggie could have avoided a lot of grief if she'd paid more attention to this experiment and how it was going down with the public.

Despite opposing it, I'm looking forward to see how it goes. And it may not be all bad: someone told me research has shown smokers tend to get more sex in places where there are smoking bans because it provides a forum where people meet and immediately have something in common over which they can strike up a conversation.

Or is that just wishful-thinking on my part?