NORMAL LIFE: New Finnish Law - No Smoking In Public Places

Not before time, smoking has been banned in nearly all Finnish restaurants and bars with effect from today! Wonderful! Now I can wake up on a Saturday or Sunday morning after a night out and not smell like a packet of cigarettes myself!

Time will tell how the transition to a smoke-free environment will go. Will smokers start congregating outdoors, thereby polluting the fresh air, I wonder? Or will we see the decline in smoking general? If the latter were to occur, then I wonder how the government will claw back this lost revenue from tobacco sales....

It will also be interesting to compare how England reacts to the ban, which is to take effect UK-wide from July 1st. I have a funny feeling that things are about to get nasty!