Bojo is the lighter at the end of the tunnel...

Smokers who are still finding life difficult after last year's smoking ban came to effect may have finally been offered a lighter at the end of the tunnel. But only if they live in London.

Yesterday, Boris "The Deliverer" Johnson, Conservative hopeful for the May 1st mayoral election, came trotting into London town on a wheezing, cancer-ridden nag and threw down a yellow finger-tipped gauntlet in the good fight against subjugation.

Should he become Mayor, Bojo stated on The Sun website, he may consider a referendum on the smoking ban. It's the only democratic thing to do, he said. Otherwise what's the point in having local democracy?

Does he have a point? Here at Westmonster we're not really sure.

As pointed out on one of The FT blogs, even smokers seem to have gotten used to the smoking ban at this stage. So a referendum seems a little redundant. Most people seem to agree that cigarettes are insalubrious, so if the public is used to not smoking maybe we should keep it that way. If it ain't broke, don't fix it they say.

Perhaps a cynic might say that Bojo's words are little more than an attempt to foster votes from The Sun demographic? If you catch our drift, saying that you would like to allow Sun readers to smoke in public again is a little like saying that you would like to install a law that allows Guardian readers to wear their sandals to work. It certainly sounds appealing, but would probably be left standing as all smoke and no cough.

The latest opinion poll results show that Boris is still ahead of his main rival Ken Livingstone in the race for the Mayor's office. It could have something to do with The Sun's website having more pictures of Boris than page three girls of recent...

Written by Oli Anderson on 17 Apr 2008 11:18 AM. Permalink