Liverpool FC Forum

by **The Ace1983** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:13 pm

Saw the craziest thing about the Smoking ban on Fox News of all places. Apparently, some pub in Southampton has got round the ban in a truly brilliant way. The landlord read the bill that will ban ciggies in pubs (sorry ciggy

) and found a loophole. He wrote to a tiny country, some island off the coast of South America and asked them if they would like an embassy in England. They said yes and after some legal work they declared the pub to be a consulate of this tiny place. Embassies and consulates are NOT covered by the bill because they constitute foreign soil! Punters there can have a fag with a pint all the time, and once in a lifetime they might have to have a cheif or an ambassador on the futon!

Brilliant idea imho. So, if your local boozer's landlord wants to keep his pub smokey, tell him to get in contact with some miniscule nation that will probably never even visit the UK and make his gaff an embassy!

by **destro** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:17 pm

Does the players lounge and bar at Goodison count, they are minuscule club

Might be worth Gollum having a word, its already full of fags :laugh:

by **LFC2007** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 10:02 pm

Sneeky feckers, still, it would only take a brief amendment of the original act to remove the loophole.

by **dawson99** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 8:39 am

that is absolutely fricking genius!!!

:bowdown

by **The Ace1983** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 10:53 am

LFC2007 wrote:Sneeky feckers, still, it would only take a brief amendment of the original act to remove the loophole.

Shows what you know about the British legal system. The British government has no official power in consulates of embassies except in its own and they're obviously in other countries. You could change the law regarding how consulates are founded, but you would have to exclude those already in existance. If your local boozer does it quick, they won't be able to alter those sort of laws for about 2 months and that's if they rush. The more i look at it, the more it looks sound. The government's only other option would be to make an agreement with every government or nation around the world that has an embassy over here. And do you think the Americans, Turkish or French will agree to ban tobacco on their own soil. Can't see it. Something will be done, but it will take time and it might get very complicated so pubs have a chance.

Meanwhile, there is a High Court battle going on at the moment as to whether or not the ban is legal at all. And, if we agree to the new EU constitution (sorry, not a constitution, a bill) there is a chance that the Smoking ban will be unconstitutional.

by **CardinalRed** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 12:17 pm

Can't wait for the ban, and it's here to stay.....!!!!!

:cool:

by **dawson99** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 12:29 pm

Smoking is good news for the Treasury, with about £4.10 of the £5.50 cost of a packet of cigarettes taken in taxes.

Excluding VAT, this earned the Treasury more than £8bn in 2004-5, Ash says.

Treating diseases caused by smoking is costly, however. The campaign group says the NHS spends £1.5bn a year, including hospital admissions, GP consultations and prescriptions. There are further costs in the form of benefits.

It is thought that about 3,000 people are employed by the tobacco industry in the UK, which is home to three of the five biggest tobacco companies in the world.

While it has been suggested that the smoking ban will hit manufacturers hard, others point out that cigarette prices have already been put up to offset any fall in sales.

"Smokers will continue to choose to smoke," said Imperial Tobacco ahead of the ban.

imagine the tax raises if enough people quit tho!!!

by **Dundalk** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 12:34 pm

We have had the ban in Ireland here for a few years and its the best thing that ever happened and Im a smoker!

But be warned instead of smelling smoke in the pub you will be able to smell everyones farts because the smoke wont cover them up anymore

by **LFC2007** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 4:26 pm

The Ace1983 wrote:Shows what you know about the British legal system.

Yes mate hence why I studied law, politics and economics at Uni you t!t.

The government will be able to remove this loophole, all it would take is an amendment of the definition of an embassy to include those places that clearly don't serve an ambassadorial role to the U.K. If it takes 2 months to implement, so be it.

The second part about the high court challenge is no breaking news, the group challenging are made up of licencees and other interested parties. Conforming to the E.U. reform bill or not, I doubt very much they would be able to succeed in any challenge under E.U. law since 14 or so E.U. member states already have a ban in place. Irrespective of the new reform treaty, they could take a challenge to the ECHR anyway.

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