Is Scotland too posh to puff?

By Brian Taylor BBC Scotland political editor

Ask yourself, what is the ban on smoking in public places proposed by the Scottish Executive really about?

Ministers have defended the smoking ban proposals

Is it about health? Well, yes, partly.

Is it about government by diktat? Again, partly.

Beneath it all, though, I think it's about driving Scotland upmarket.

Perhaps it is, finally, the moment that sums up the McConnell administration, that tells us what the first minister hopes to achieve in office.

He wants a smart, glistening, high oxygen, modern country.

Or, put another way, he wants a Scotland no longer characterised by dodgy, smoky, low-life boozers.

Never mind Scotland the Brave. This is Scotland the Posh.

A reasonable question

First, a caveat. I am no great fan of grand design in government. Mostly, I prefer the managerial approach: sorting things as they arise rather than devising apocalyptic plans for transforming the whole of society.

Such schemes tend to fit demagoguery rather than democracy.

But still, it has been a reasonable question to pose. Just what is Jack McConnell for? What is the broad scope of his executive's strategy which encompasses individual policies?

It may seem quaint, even bizarre, but I think the ban on smoking in enclosed public places offers the answer.

It is no coincidence that the debate has largely centred upon smoking in Scotland's street-corner pubs

It exemplifies the familiar sound bites from the first minister: "Raising the game" and "the best small country in the world" (He means Scotland, by the way, in case you had not recognised the description from your particular part of said small country).

Certainly, the smoking ban can be predicated simply upon health.

Scotland has an appalling record for cancer deaths. Passive smoking is said to be a factor. You smoke passively when you are in an enclosed space with those puffing fags. Hence the ban. QED.

But it is no coincidence that the debate has largely centred upon smoking in Scotland's street-corner pubs, rather than any other "enclosed place".

It is no coincidence that the first minister is deliberately targeting a habit described - by his Westminster colleague John Reid - as one of the few pleasures still available to folk in deprived council estates.

Class struggle

This is a social - rather than a Socialist - issue.

You can use the Labour euphemism "aspirational" if you prefer. But this is about the social image Scotland presents to the world.

This is class struggle, contemporary style. Not between competing social groups - but to raise Scotland's status, full stop.

Let's remind ourselves again of that remark by John Reid.

He said: "What enjoyment does a 21-year-old, single mum-of-three in a council estate get? The only enjoyment sometimes they have is a cigarette."

Full details of the proposals were being unveiled on Friday

To be fair to Dr Reid - himself a reformed smoker - he was attempting to argue that smoking was not the key issue for the most deprived sections of society.

But look at the reaction. It tells a story about the true motivation behind the smoking ban.

It was said - with some justification - that Dr Reid was appearing to set limits on the aims and aspirations of those in struggling social circumstances.

It was said he was settling down, rather than striving upwards.

More generally, there is a tendency in Scotland to accept things as they are, to whimper rather than act. To say: "Ach, it's aye been like that. Why bother?"

It is that attitude the first minister is attempting to address. That is what "raising the game" means.

Improve image

Hence the strategy to bring high-profile international events to Scotland.

Hence the move to improve the image that Scotland presents to other countries.

Hence the move to improve the standard of Scottish tourism, to aim relentlessly upmarket.

Hence - directly to the point - the sustained onslaught against sectarianism.

Will it drive publicans out of business and shed valuable jobs?

Jack McConnell does not condemn bigotry simply because it is intrinsically wrong. It is because sectarianism drags Scotland down. It is mean-minded, low-spirited, sapping and grim.

That, if you like, is the vision thing.

No more tedious bigotry, with opposing sides propping each other up like wasted, wrinkled pugilists.

No more drink-fuelled "here's tae us, wha's like us".

No more smoke-infested drinking dens.

Which instantly brings the challenges to that particular smoking policy.

Firstly, the libertarian argument. Is it any part of the role of the state to govern individual behaviour? Yes, says the first minister, when that individual behaviour damages others, including Scotland's collective image.

Greater gain

Secondly, the complaints of the licensed trade. Will it drive publicans out of business and shed valuable jobs?

Privately, supporters of the reform concede that it might damage some pubs which fail to adapt or cannot adapt. But, significantly, they also point to the greater gain of transforming Scotland's image.

Thirdly, the associated complaints. Is the Scottish Executive doing enough to underpin that objective of promoting a new image - or is the strategy just hot air? From the Nationalists, isn't the drive hampered by a lack of clout?

More generally, is the executive doing enough to support the dynamic economy which is required to bolster that new image?

Upmarket Scotland

Is it doing enough to counter lingering mediocrity in parts of Scottish education? Is it doing enough to improve the health service? Is it doing enough to spread wealth, to ensure that "raising the game" isn't just a sick joke for Scotland's poor?

On quite another tack, if Mr McConnell genuinely wants to usher in a new, upmarket Scotland, what on earth was he doing blighting Scottish Opera with a row over funding?

Scotland has few global markers, in truth. The arts form one: think of the Edinburgh Festival. Why cause problems?

Much, much to debate. But, perhaps, when Scotland debates smoking, we can tackle it on two fronts.

The yes and no of the issue itself. And the underlying aim. Scotland the Posh.