Smokey And The Banned-It

The smoke-don't smoke argument is hotting up. The glowing embers of a cigarette tip threaten to become a mighty conflagration, if predictions are correct as to the impact of the proposed smoking ban in public places. The trouble is that these predictions are of course self-serving. They verge on the apocalyptic. The Balearics restaurant association is forecasting the "total ruination" of the bar and restaurant sector.

The law on no-smoking in bars and restaurants has yet to be enacted. Exactly when it might - or might not - be brought into effect is still not clear, though it is meant to be this year, a year that, according to the Spanish hotel and tourism association Exceltur, will be worse than last year in terms of tourism. In other words, recession is still wreaking havoc, and the last thing that's needed is a smoking ban.

Whether the prediction regarding this year's tourism is indeed accurate is open to debate. A strengthening pound and the Euro concerns caused by the Greeks could yet see a turnaround in Mallorca. Personally, I would question the prediction. Further evidence that might rebut it comes from increased consumer activity in the UK, while the great competitor - Turkey - has its own problems, those of supply. Nevertheless, the timing of the smoking ban may not be the best. A question is, though, when would be the best time. Never, if the bar and restaurant owners had their way.

The total ruination that the federation believes will occur will manifest itself in the form of a ten per cent drop in turnover, which doesn't sound like total ruination. But on top of takings reductions over the past couple of years, a further 10% drop would be significant.

One has, however, to distinguish between different markets and different types of bar or restaurant. For the tourism restaurant market, a smoking ban would be unlikely to have much impact for the simple reason that the ban is not due to be applied to terraces, which is where most tourists eat. That non-smokers on a terrace may have to continue to suffer nearby smoke is not really an issue. They have long had to endure this, with no discernible effect on restaurant trade.

Where a ban would be most likely to have a detrimental impact would be on smaller bars which either have no terrace or only a small one and on nightclubs which cannot allow terrace business after midnight (or maybe it's eleven - who knows for sure?). The federation is probably right to highlight "locales de ocio nocturno" as being the sector of the so-called "complementary offer" that has most to lose from prohibition - to the tune of 15%.

In the case of the smaller bars, there should be genuine concern. Both tourist and resident markets could be affected by a ban, especially the latter. Yet this raises an issue regarding the overall supply of bars and cafés, of which there are too many. Perhaps a shake-out might be deemed a good thing, though this is a pretty heartless argument. Moreover, unlike, for example, the impact of all-inclusives which has been and is one of changed market conditions, the impact of a smoking ban would not be. A smoking ban is a form of societal engineering that creates an arguably unfair market condition.

In the UK, if a bar goes to the wall as a consequence of the smoking ban, it can be argued that alternative forms of business or employment exist, given the great diversity of the UK market as a whole. The same conditions, however, do not apply to somewhere like Mallorca. The apparent over-supply of bars is largely a consequence of economic necessity. A smoking ban may be as prejudicial to the wider economy as much as it is to small bar owners. In Croatia, another of Mallorca's great competitors, a total ban introduced last year was partially reversed because of the apparent harm that it caused. And Croatia is hardly a highly diverse economy either.

The saving grace, at least where tourism is concerned, may be that visitors from other countries are now used to not smoking when out at bars or restaurants, so that any change in Mallorca would not be a great issue. However, it is the case that some visitors enjoy the liberal smoking laws that currently exist. Or maybe one is making too much of all this. And maybe the federation is as well. In the UK, habits have changed. Far fewer people smoke than used to be the case, the result of publicity, education and also a smoking ban. Tradition, of sorts, it may be for the Mallorcan bar to be a smoker's haven, but were it no longer to be, then would that really be such a bad thing?


Smoking bans elsewhere -
Bulgaria: a total ban in public places is due to be introduced as from June this year.
Croatia: a law banning smoking in bars etc was reversed in September last year, allowing for either designated smoking areas or, in the case of small bars, for owners to choose if bars are smoking or non-smoking (as is the case at the moment in Mallorca).
Cyprus: a ban in public places came into effect at the start of the year; as with the Spanish proposal, smoking can continue on terraces.
Egypt: who knows? There was a ban imposed in 2007 in "public places", but it has not been enforced. In practice, there is none.
France: smoking rooms are permitted but with strict conditions.
Greece: there have been similar provisions as to those now in Croatia, but enforcement is lax. A total ban was supposedly imposed from 1 July last year, but there has been a backlash.
Italy: as in France, strictly controlled smoking rooms are permitted but are rare, and in the country generally tough restrictions have proved to be popular.
Turkey: smoking has been banned inside bars and restaurants since last summer.


World Cup Song
Further to yesterday, I received a comment bigging up a thing called "Green Fields Of England" by George and the Dragons. Here it is - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_9WJ6WKeS4.


QUIZ:
Yesterday's title - The Police, http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2prui_the-police-wrapped-around-your-fing_music.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Wrapped Around Your Finger - Pi de Ternelles Accident

The events of Sant Antoni claimed a victim; the boss of fiestas in Pollensa needed to have parts of two fingers amputated as the result of an accident in the movement of the pine tree of Ternelles to the town of Pollensa. Reports of the whole day's festivities said that there were "regretfully various incidents". But while the actual climbing of the pine tree might be said to be the most dangerous aspect of the Ternelles ceremony, it should be noted that it was not this that caused Miquel Ramón to lose those fingers. Nevertheless, other reports spoke of excessive amounts of alcohol being consumed, while "The Diario" made it clear that the very act of transferring the pine tree is not a "game".

It is easy to see the night of Sant Antoni, with its fires and fire-runs, and the day of Ternelles, with its tree climbing, as all jolly good fun and hang the safety angle, but not for the first time this most traditional of Mallorcan occasions has raised concerns. One can add the voices of animal rights supporters who object to the live cock that is the "prize" for the first person to climb the tree. Personally, I couldn't give a damn whether someone injures himself, scaling the pine, or whether there is a non-sentient animal in a bag at the top of the tree. It is unfortunate that Ramón has lost fingers, but accidents can and do happen. It is all jolly good fun (unless you happen to be divested of parts of your body), but tradition or no tradition, one does wonder if it is not under threat, and not only because of Europe's rulings regarding the fire-runs.

Heaven help us that Anglo-Saxon principles of arch-health and safety should intrude, but it would be impossible for something like Sant Antoni or Ternelles to occur in the UK. Someone would cop for a major compensation claim, of that you could be sure; the police just wouldn't tolerate any of it, nor would local authorities. The notion of some 3,000 people (seemingly far more than before) trooping off to get the pine tree and then manipulating it and moving it, under the influence of drink, would be absurd to British sensibilities. That, though, is how it is in Pollensa. For how much longer?


World Cup Song
You may know that there will not be an official World Cup song to mark England's campaign this summer. No "Back Home", no "World In Motion". Apparently, Fabio doesn't want the distraction. But there will of course be a song, several songs in all likelihood, and let me lend my support to Danny Baker's call for something truly awful to be one of those songs, something truly awful that has a Mallorcan dimension in that the perpetrator is one of the island's X-listed unter-celebs. Jess Conrad. Remember him? His name crops up now and then in the so-called celeb columns of the island's media. He once recorded a song called "Soccer Superstar", and it is this atrocity that Baker is promoting - and rightly so. If you are unfamiliar with this, then check it out - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_urjNkxaLz0. Who knows, there is probably already a Facebook campaign behind this inspiration for our boys in South Africa. Or maybe it could be remixed for a contemporary market. Give it over to Pete Hook to be newly ordered, and throw in Rooney doing a rap.


QUIZ:
Yesterday's title - Jeff Goldblum. Today's title - which group did the finger-wrapping?

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.