RETROWURST: Rauchen verboten November 2007

 

For this year’s birthday party, I decided to make it non-smoking, at least indoors. A first for me. And it all went pretty well. The smokers were OK with standing outside when they wanted a ciggie and my clothes and our cellar bar didn’t stink to high heaven the next day. 

I’ve definitely become less tolerant of smoke, and perhaps it's no wonder - the ban on smoking in public has been in force for 18 years now. Here are my thoughts on lighting up and liberty in general from back then.

----------

We have now had just over a month of smoke-free Hessen. The smoking ban in public places came in here on 1^stOctober 2007 and, now that the cold weather is upon us, it’s worth taking a look at how this is going so far and at the topic of personal liberty generally in Germany.

 

Around 25% of Germans claim to be regular smokers, with an additional 4% as “occasionals”. I haven’t any up-to-date figures, but I believe this is slightly higher than the UK. Smoking is more prevalent amongst men (35%) than women (22%) and amongst manual workers, lorry and bus drivers (52%!) than amongst professionals such as doctors, pharmacists and teachers (a mere 18%). Again, similar to the UK, the percentage of smokers is falling but this seems due to more people in their 30s, 40s and 50s giving up rather than less young people starting. Teenage smoking, especially among girls, is still a social issue here.

 

The smoking ban, due to the governmental structure here, was carried out in a piecemeal fashion, in contrast to the UK. Each of the Länder had its own date and policy for the smoking ban and even now, there are different rules and regulations should I drive 15 km southwards to Bayern.

 

The other huge difference to the UK was the “low key” way that the ban was brought in and enforced. There was no expensive multi-media campaign heralding the ban and you would be pushed to find one beermat, sticker or sign in a Hessich pub or restaurant with Rauchen Verboten, or similar. Indeed, you may even find that the restaurant still has a room for smokers which seems to be allowable under the rules. And even if there is no place in the restaurant for a quick smoke, you are likely to find a pavilion and benches outside, complete with giant electric heaters. The result of this is that smokers have accepted the ruling rather better than they have in the UK. There is a feeling that they have been treated like adults and are responding like adults. The ban was announced matter-of-factly in the media, without a huge build-up or constant niggling to make smokers feel put-upon or militant. Of course, there have been mutterings and grumblings by the electric heaters but overall, one feels that people have accepted that this is now the way of the world.

 

Overall, there seems to be a less hysterical attitude to smoking in Germany than in the UK. Children can still buy “sweet cigarettes” here and cigarette vending machines are a more frequent sight than post boxes. It was only at the beginning of this year that these were fitted with a credit-card identity check; last year, anyone who was tall enough or resourceful enough could buy cigarettes at any time of the day or night. And smokers are rarely vilified as they are in the UK. The ex-Chancellor Helmut Schmidt frequently appears on television, pooh-poohing global warming while chain-smoking for Germany, although I must admit that I haven’t seen him since the ban!

 

I am not particularly pro or anti-smoking: after all, some of my best friends smoke! But it does occur to me that in Germany, there seems rather less hysterical telling us what we can and can’t do than in the UK. Or, rather, perhaps this is a more recent development in the UK which one simply doesn’t notice here as it has always been the case. If we take something like food labeling, I am freshly amazed each time I buy something in a UK supermarket as to how many warnings, stamps and “dos and don’ts” can fit onto a small label, from “may contain traces of nuts” to “part of your 5-a-day.” We have very, very little of this in Germany. This is partly because there is less packaging. If I buy apples, I’ll probably buy them loose and decide for myself whether they are “perfect for lunchboxes”. Or I’m pretty sure that the cheese that I buy from the cheese counter will contain milk, so I won’t be force-feeding it to anyone who has a dairy allergy. Most of my friends who are vegetarian are clever enough to work out what fits in their diet without those little green symbols everywhere.

 

The other reason is that people are treated as responsible adults here. There are no speed limits on the Autobahnsoutside built-up areas as people are expected to drive responsibly and there don’t seem to be more accidents here than anywhere else. In general, on the roads, there are less signs and road-markings and certainly nothing of the jokey “don’t be dirty, stick to thirty” variety. Although Germany has more than its fair share of petty rules and regulations, these tend not to be screamed at you from every roof top. Once you know what the rules are, you know who is responsible. End of story. So, if you slip on the ice in front of my house because I couldn’t be bothered to grit it, my insurance has to pay your medical bill. I am responsible and that’s clear. It probably won’t go through the courts.

 

Of course, the main reason that the nanny state hasn’t taken over in Germany is that they’ve been there and done that, as we all know. Being told what to do, how to behave and what to think by the state is something that Germans have had more than enough of. Perhaps the government in the UK should pause to think where it might all end.

----------

It’s difficult to get hold of comparable stats, but my best estimate is that the % of smokers in Germany (regular or occasional) has fallen from 29% to 22.7% in the last eighteen years. The decrease is more marked amongst men (35% to 25.7%) than women (22% to 19.6%).

Of course, during this time we’ve seen the rise of cigarette/tobacco alternatives from vapes and shishas to legalised cannabis. And cigarette vending machines still grace many a pavement. 

But there are clear signs of the Nanny State stomping into adults’ lives with food labelling and packaging, media and manufacturer band-waggoning on Veganuary, Sober October and whatever all those virtue-signalling months are called. I have even tried alcohol-free wine. It was nasty.

I think Covid has a lot to answer for.

At least it hasn’t got quite to the absurd stage that the UK has reached. In almost every restaurant we went to on our last visit, we were “greeted” with “any allergies?” before the waiter had even said hello to us.