A Stitch in Haste

Here's another one of those stories where I think I might have blogged it before, but just can't remember:

Scotland snuffed out Winston Churchill's famous cigar at the Edinburgh Fringe arts festival on Monday.

Actor Mel Smith, playing the wartime leader in a new play, decided not to defy Scotland's tough new anti-smoking laws after officials had threatened to close down the theatre if he lit up.

In March, a sweeping new ban came into force in Scotland in a bid to change a lifestyle of heavy drinking and smoking.

As I noted in an altogether different context in my last post, this is not sound policy but a mania, as if one cigar by one actor is going to give everyone in the audience cancer or accelerate global warming.

And, of course, if Scotland worried a wee bit more about property rights and a wee bit less about who's rights trump whose (a question that, since it is badly framed, can only be badly answered), then perhaps that would "clear the air" a bit regarding such controversies.

Exit stage leftist.

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Found it!