The steadily increasing gentrification of traditional smoky, dingy pubs can only be attributed to the increasingly puritanical attitude that has sadly been embraced by so many.  We have without doubt left, as Dan so aptly put it, "the golden age of political incorrectness" and we have entered into a new realm where smug, self righteous individuals reign. The rules and regulations that seem to control every aspect of Australian life, from "explicit" sex scenes in movies, to littering,  smoking, drinking, gambling, only suggest to me that we are becoming more and more like our politically correct friends in the United States of America. I am not trying to argue that these things are good or healthy and I agree that we should be encouraging people to look after their health, protect the environment and if all else fails, think about trying not to inconvenience   others when they smoke or indulge in any of the mentioned risky activities. It seems to me that instead of trying to educate the populace about these certain life hazards and the potential implications, the government has chosen to take a parental role and has placed bans upon anything deemed immoral, unhealthy or politically incorrect.

Life is erratic, humans are inconsistent and any attempt to regularize and enforce moral codes so strictly upon society is only going to cause another set of problems to arise. We can try and try to be masters of our own destinies but there is only so much that can really be controlled. Who really wants to live life by a set of laws so strict, rigid and so highly sanctimonious that one may as well be back in primary school? I suppose Anna is probably right - in 30 years time we'll be championing the rights of the so called "pub yuppie". Smokers and true blue pub patrons will be relics of the distant past and the yuppies will battle it out with the authorities for their right to talk on their mobile phones whilst inside the pub. The end result will be a calm, tranquil, smoke-free, noise-free establishment, known as a pub. One can only hope we will still be able to buy drinks there.