Smokers Outside The Bar Doors - New Spanish Smoking Law

The new smoking law has become a bit clearer - sort of. Issued by the central government in Madrid, it will, in 2010 (not clear exactly when**), mean that in all "public spaces" that are closed, i.e. the interiors of bars and restaurants and so on, smoking will be banned. There is none of this determination by size of establishment or any of the previous confusion. Nor would it seem, unless the regional government proposes otherwise, will there be separate regulations for Mallorca, which had been the case. Public spaces that are not closed, e.g. terraces, will remain unaffected. While smoke can of course circulate and dissipate more readily outside, this lack of prohibition is still not great news for those who might be at a table next to one of smokers setting fire to themselves. Nevertheless, the new law does now seem to be taking shape, much to the annoyance of the "club of smokers for tolerance", which apparently can boast some 100,000 members across Spain, and to bar and restaurant owners who fear loss of trade.

One of the arguments against the new law is that it will just compound problems caused by the economic crisis, to which though one might argue that there is no good time to introduce such a law, in the sense that whenever it is introduced it will have an impact, as has been the case in the UK. As has previously been reported, owners who had invested in creating physical barriers are moaning twice over because those investments will now have been for nothing, assuming they did actually make such investments.

The smokers tolerance crowd are also arguing that the new law is likely to lead to disturbances, akin to those witnessed, apparently, in Paris and Italy where smokers gather outside doors, with their drinks and cause a nuisance to neighbours and passers-by alike. Add to this the fact that drinking in the streets is generally prohibited, and, so the smokers say, you have a toxic mix of potential trouble. They may have a point, or they may not. Either way, what with the introduction of that other law - the one about interior temperatures and doors being closed - there is likely to be no lack of open to interpretation. As is always the case.

** And as is always the case, the timing is unclear. Some reporting says "from 2010", which could mean from the start, while there is a conflicting report which suggests that the law will not go through parliament in 2010.


Divine Cricket
Around the time that the first test match between England and South Africa got underway yesterday, the national radio station RNE3 offered something of a cricketing tribute. Not, one imagines, that they for one moment knew anything about the game at Centurion. Nevertheless, there it was - on this most eclectic of Spanish music stations - a song from the "Duckworth Lewis Method" album by the group of the same name (Neil Hannon, The Divine Comedy), with references to getting your pads on and the like.

How big, do you suppose, does a song about cricket play with a Spanish audience? Not very, one would think, especially as the lyrics are of course in English and obscure to any - even to English speakers - who might not understand the cricketing motifs in the song, after which the presenter explained that it came from a concept album about cricket, a sport that no Spaniard would have a clue about. What would have been better, would have been if the presenter had tried to explain the Duckworth Lewis Method to a Spanish audience.


QUIZ
Today's title - Had this before, but "Smokers Outside The Bar Doors" is a corruption of which song by which band?

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