Smokers Left Fuming
THE BAN ON smoking in the Union's main bar got off to a stormy start on Sunday evening, as regulars flouted the new rules by staging a "smoke-in". Union bouncers were forced to intervene after Andrew Peacock reportedly spat at Patrick MacKerras, and said "I hope you die of lung cancer".
It was Patrick MacKerras who, as leader of the Oxford branch of Students for Action on Smoking and Health, got a referendum passed through the Union, banning smoking on the ground floor. Since then there has been a vocal community calling for a repeal of the ban.
To mark their protest, some drinkers sat about "smoking pipes and cigars and all that stuff", according to one co-ordinator of the pro-smoking campaign. Others "were standing on the first step of the stairs, and asking if that was the ground floor". As a result, a number of members were fined by the Union.
Richard Coates - the former Returning Officer who opposed MacKerras' campaign last term - regarded the behaviour as "understandable" and was "amazed that it was as peaceful as it was". He blamed bar staff and Patrick MacKerras, saying the latter "deliberately provoked trouble". MacKerras was also claimed to be "gloating", while another Union insider alleged that "Pat MacKerras and his mates were being bastards, telling the bar staff to do this and that".
Patrick MacKerras strongly denied all these claims, saying they were "absolutely not true". A friend reported that at the beginning of the evening, he had "simply asked the bar staff what they'd been instructed to do" if anyone smoked. Throughout the evening, he went on, Andrew Peacock - who with Coates spearheaded the opposition to MacKerras' referendum last term - "blew smoke in Patrick's face as hard as he could". According to another witness "eventually the doormen persuaded him to calm down".
Andrew Peacock refused to comment, citing his involvement with Union committees. Similarly, Union bar staff, who could be seen having a cigarette break in the Gladstone room, did not wish to comment about the incident. MacKerras, however, viewed the protest as a "last act of defiance" that would not alter the success of the policy. On Monday night, the Union bar was smoke free, apart from a union offical who was spotted having a quick fag after closing time.
The reaction of punters was more mixed, though. A number of non-smokers were worried it would lead to the Union becoming even more cliquey than already.
Some third year smokers - and their non-smoking friends - who were huddled on the floor in the Gladstone room were resigned. "If it's been voted through, that's that" was the general reaction. Nevertheless, they found their new home "grim", especially as "they've made downstairs really nice".
Richard Coates saw this as "typical of what Patrick MacKerras is trying to do, which is to deny smokers real choice". MacKerras rubbished this, saying that the Union could simply move some more chairs and tables upstairs. He added: "a bar does not have to be a smoky bar to be a real bar".
26th Oct 2000