Tag Archives: prohibition

Mark Wright

Opinion: Prohibition 3 or how I learned to stop worrying and love failure

By Mark Wright | Wed 29th August 2012 - 3:54 pm

I am a non-smoker, apart from the odd birthday cigar. After initial misgivings about the details of the public building smoking ban in the UK, I have come to see it as the most significant and beneficial health change in human behaviour in many decades. It has transformed our public places for the better and helped thousands to give up.

Despite that, I have always been suspicious of the increasingly fanatical political drive against smoking. It has always had an undercurrent reminiscent of the 19th century Temperance movement that gave rise to the disaster of “Prohibition” of alcohol.

There can’t be a …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 11 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • Roland
    >” In my view this policy paper, and subsequent suggestions that the Liberal Democrats should be the party of legalisation, is wrong. ” Interesting poin...
  • Roland
    > Oh, and, Mark, do you fancy taking on this column? Surely, having an insider’s and outsider’s view might be interesting, particularly given all the ta...
  • Daniel Stylianou
    I read the previous comments with interest but they are, I feel, misguided. Catherine mentions clearing out the prisons but as I pointed out, anyone who works i...
  • Alex Macfie
    @Tristan Ward: In the 2000s, when we were pivoting towards the centre-left, we held up against the Tories and gained seats from Labour. It was only when the Tor...
  • Mark Pack
    I have turned a Nelsonian blind eye to your question, Mark....