Clash of the Fascists or Closing the Gender Gap or Life Continues to Imitate Lunacy or Hell, Nothing Surprises Me Any More

In a world where everything we do is considered part of the "public" health, it was bound to happen. British do-gooders are stuck between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand they support Britain's ban on smoking in bars. But, on the other hand they worry that smoke-free bars will attract more women to bars, who will - horrors of horrors - drink. I wish I was making this up.

John Band, of Datamonitor, said the average European man drank just over 2.5 times as much alcohol as the average European woman... However, the gap is narrowing. Between 2005 and 2010, women's share of drinks consumption in Europe will grow 1.5 per cent a year.

...Mr Band said: "Getting married or having a family restricts 'going-out' opportunities, but women in Europe are increasingly doing this at a later age...The compulsory banning of smoking in pubs will serve to make venues more attractive to faster-growing consumer groups such as women and middle-aged consumers."

A recent survey estimated that up to a quarter of adults in Britain are binge drinkers. The poll of 2,000 people found that almost one in three men and one in five women drank at least double the recommended daily limit.

In related be-careful-what-you-wish-for-you-fascist-fucks news, a public-smoking ban in Australia has led more parents to smoke at home, raising health risks for kids.

The Medical Post reported April 4 that research from the Australian National University's Research School of Social Sciences concluded that "bans in recreational public places can perversely increase tobacco exposure of nonsmokers ... Children seem to be particularly affected. The level of cotinine (a nicotine byproduct measurable in saliva) in children considerably increases as a result of bans in public places."

[First story via Hit & Run]