bunun yapmanın yolu

The title is a (probably ham-fisted) tribute to our Turkish colleagues who have shown brilliantly today that, if a community is going to protest against illiberal and nonsensical smoking bans, their approach is one to be admired. Translated, it says 'That's the way to do it'.

Hundreds of Turks have taken to the streets of Ankara to protest against a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants which was brought in last month.

Many of the protesters are cafe owners who say the ban is hurting trade and want smoking to be allowed in special areas of their establishments.

From the video accompanying the Comrade Beeb story, they look to be having one of those things that we used to be famous for too. Namely, a right good knees-up.

"Don't add a coffeehouse crisis to the economic crisis," one banner read.

Other banners threatened that the party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a supporter of the ban, would suffer at the next election.

Indeed he will.

Perhaps he should take note from the UK, where even the 'Brown Bounce' after Blair's resignation on 27th June 2007 (clever boy), couldn't help the one-eyed jock from the backlash once the weather turned in October of that fateful year.

Labour have never recovered.



Alienating smokers isn't just bad for business, as Turkish cafe/restaurant owners have found to their cost, it is also very bad for political careers.

When will they ever learn, eh?

Graph courtesy of Sky's Poll Tracker.