Nine out of ten publicans want imprudent anti-smoking legislation to be halted, ACT MP Penny Webster revealed today.

"I conducted a survey of 832 bar owners. Of these, 750 publicans want a halt to legislation that would force them to segregate smokers from non-smokers.

"The Government never sought advice or consultation from publicans before they charged on with this ill-advised legislation. The Government has tackled this issue in a high-handed way that lacks common sense.

"Our survey shows that the proposed law changes will force at least twenty-five establishments to close. Pubs hit the hardest are in small towns, where turnover is not high and the cost of segregation will be too much.

"Today's suggestion of censoring smoking in movies is more evidence of the fanaticism that is crowding out common sense in this debate," Mrs Webster said.

Ends

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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>>