The government today announced plans to introduce a ban on smoking in all public places serving food. 

I have heard many complaints from smokers about how the proposed ban would infringe their rights and how the state is trying to tell them what to do. But they have missed the whole point. The proposal is about safeguarding their right to smoke at the same time as safeguarding everyone else's right not to smoke. It's the only compromise that protects everyone's freedom of choice.

At the present time the 74% of the population that don't smoke are faced with the choice of either risking life-threatening diseases or staying away from all public places. That isn't fair or reasonable: everyone has rights in a democracy. This proposal isn't about the state trying to tell people what to do, and it's not about giving non smokers more rights than smokers. It's about safeguarding everyone's right to do as they please as far as is practically possible without affecting the rights of others to do the same.