Shame about the ditching of segregated smoking areas inside as this means (A) Non-smokers who want to stay out late with friends/family will have to eat up before 10.00pm and then put up with others smoking, perhaps even on the next table. (B) every bar that paid out for screening to segregate smokers from non-smokers have wasted their money. To re-introduce segregated areas seemed to be so simple and completely fair to everyone.

Peter, it *seems* simple to any rational person, but it is not. What you need to understand is that the real purpose behind these bans has nothing at all to do with worries about secondhand smoke. The bans are behavioral conditioning mechanism to make smoking as inconvenient, uncomfortable, and "painful" as possible in order to condition the "rats" (i.e. the smokers) into the desired behaviors.

Of course the problem that arises is that human beings are NOT rats and should NOT accept having their behavior "conditioned" as if they WERE rats.

There is no sound health reason why comfortable, decently ventilated, indoor smoking lounges and bars should not be allowed. The ONLY reason has to do with behavioral conditioning: Treating Bulgarians as if they were rats.

- MJM