Friday 18th May 2001

Extreme zealots in the government are over-stepping the mark by trying to ban smoking in bars and restaurants, ACT leader Richard Prebble says.

“The coalition wants to tell us how to live our lives. First we have Marian Hobbs telling us what to watch on TV, now we have the government trying to stop people smoking in bars and restaurants.”

“The irony is that ACT has no smokers among its MPs but we support the right of people to make their own informed choices,” he said.

“The Labour/Alliance government believes the state should do people’s thinking for them.

“They won’t be satisfied until they’ve shot the last smoker to stop them dying from cancer. Then they’ll legalise cannabis.

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>