Smoke detectives are taking over bliar's nanny streets

Thousands of council officers will be on the streets this summer, patrolling bars, restaurants and shops to police the smoking ban. Smokers' campaigning groups said the scheme would be a "complete waste of public money". The British Beer and Pub Association said the plan was "heavy handed". Local authorities have been granted £29.5 million to raise awareness about the rules.

The new smoke-free rules come into force in England on July 1, when people will be banned from smoking in workplaces or enclosed public areas.

However, there might be confusion about the application of the rules. A home owner is allowed to smoke at home but not if a work colleague arrives to discuss a business plan. Similarly, home owners can smoke if friends are invited, but not if caterers are there to help with the food and drink.

Officers will be able to sit among drinkers undercover and photograph and film people. A Government-funded course is expected to train 1,200 council employees in the next few months, with more to follow later.

Ian Gray, the policy officer for the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health and chief trainer for the Government course, said: " I am sure that there will be some occasions when action has to be taken and I am sure the officers will not shy away from that.

"These officers do not have to identify themselves when they go into premises and they can film and photograph people to gather evidence although this may not be appropriate in many cases."

In Nottingham, about 30 officers will patrol the city, including new staff and environmental health officers.

In Liverpool, there will be a core team of about 20 to 25 staff, although about 200 staff are expected to patrol the city in the first few days of the ban. Liverpool City Council official Andy Hull told the BBC: "We want to make our presence felt, and while we will probably just issue warnings on the first day, we won't be afraid of making an example of people or businesses."

Simon Clark, director of the smokers' group Forest, said: "The idea of getting public officials to snoop on people is distasteful." A spokesman for the British Beer and Pub Association said the plan was "elaborate".

News of the increased number of smoking snoopers comes after The Daily Telegraph revealed that there were just three uniformed police officers on the streets in some towns at night.

From:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/16/nsmoke16.xml

Given that Labour have massacred pension savings in the UK with their maladministration and stealth taxes, it is somewhat ironic that they now want people to live longer- but in diminished circumstances.

Health Direct points out that people only describe bliar as being “middle of the road” because on every subject his policies are both from the extreme right and the extreme left of the spectrum.

For example, in the NHS we have the stalinist centralist targets and dictats and at the same time we have post code lotteries where spending powers have been devolved down to unelected quangoes.