Llaws against smoking in cars

Health campaigners in Wales are trying to persuade people not to smoke in cars when there are children on board. If that doesn't work, the Welsh government will bring in the law.

In general, I prefer persuasion to regulation. We have too many laws, rather than too few. Where the protection of children is concerned, however, I am on the side of this law.

I used to be a member of the board of FOREST, the Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco. I have spoken on radio and television against ASH, Action on Smoking and Health. I don't like health fascism. I rebel against people trying to force me to do things for my own good.

I believe that people should have the right to smoke and that they have the right to pay, out of their own pockets, for the medical consequences. I do not believe that they have the right to expect others to pay for their care.

As a libertarian, I would like to see government much less involved in health and education. I want individuals to be much more responsible, where possible, for themselves and for their families in these important areas of life.

In those circumstances, cigarette smokers, heavy drinkers and recreational drug users might think more than twice if they have to pay for the damage they cause to themselves and to others (if they can count that far when they are under the influence of their various drugs).

But I acknowledge, as maybe the Welsh legislators do not, that the law is a very blunt instrument. How widely should it be applied?

I have climbed along Crib Goch in Snowdonia in the winter. I was one of the first pot-holers in the Breckon Beacons. I have sung English songs in pubs in rural Cardiganshire. I have played rugby. These are all highly risky pursuits. Am I to be prevented from following these personal idiosyncrasies?

But, if I were to have young children strapped to my back, the situation would be different. They would have no say in the risks I was taking with their lives as well as mine.

In a confined space, such as in a car, children have no choice over the smoke-polluted air that they breathe. That is wrong. But how on earth can it be policed? And what would be the next law that health fascists would demand for our own good and to protect the sacred cow of the profligate NHS budget?

I fear governments far more than I fear any health risk. I shall fight to protect children and people who have no capacity to care for themselves. But that's as far as I am prepared to go along the road to George Orwell's 'Wigan pier', let alone towards the totalitarian nightmare of his '1984'.