Despite being a non smoker I have mixed feeling about the forthcoming ban on smoking in many public places. Whilst the idea of arriving home after a night out at the pub not smelling like an ashtray is a big plus and it's a habit that ranks just above licking twenty year old carpet and urinating in public, I wonder if this is just the thin end of the wedge? Now I'm not normally a thin end of the wedge, if we get A then C is bound to happen kind of guy but I know that the political animal, if nothing else, can't help but interfere in public policy. Politicians regularly talk about 'thin government' and 'personal freedoms' but it's like turkeys voting for Christmas (notice how I inserted a seasonal motif). So what next after smoking and junk food? Beer, wine, coffee, Earl Grey, bungie jumping, printers (yes I remember Tommo), mobile phones, Bangle styled BMWs? I'm sure there's a warning here somewhere.