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from the all-those-in-favour,-please-cough dept.
Austria has one of the highest rates of smoking and youth smoking among high income countries, and that might not be changing anytime soon:
Many Western countries have banned smoking in bars and restaurants, but Austria is bucking that trend. Under a law passed in 2015, Austria was due to bring in a total ban this May, but now its new government of the conservatives and the far-right Freedom Party have scrapped the plans.
The move was spearheaded by the leader of the Freedom Party, Austria's Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, himself a smoker, who told parliament last month that it was about freedom of choice. He said restaurants should be free to decide if they want to have smoking sections, where "a citizen has the possibility to decide perhaps to enjoy a cigarette or a pipe or a cigar with their coffee".
The move has horrified Austria's medical establishment. Dr Manfred Neuberger, professor emeritus at the Medical University of Vienna, says it is "a public health disaster".
"The decision is irresponsible. It was a victory for the tobacco industry. The new government made Austria into the ashtray of Europe."
Meanwhile, the country is considering buying more jet fighters, recruiting more police, defunding its public broadcaster, and examining its past.
(Score: 2, Troll) by Arik on Friday February 16 2018, @05:41AM
Same reason as just one kid with a boom-box on the bus can make the ride miserable for everyone else."
In my experience there are usually several restaurants to choose from in a given area (and in areas where there isn't unreasonable red tape facing new entries eateries literally pop up everywhere,) so there's no reason why some can't permit smoking and some forbid it. There's no reason that some of the larger ones couldn't even have separate spaces to cater to both.
Well, no reason aside from the fact that the government decided to forcibly forbid it a few years back. Before they did that, restaurants did just those things in fact.
But buses are a bit different. You're lucky to find ONE bus to go somewhere you need to go, let alone several, so it doesn't lend itself to that sort of solution in the same way.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?