“If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law.”
Sir Winston Churchill

As he had promised, Mel Smith became the first performer at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival to openly defy Scotland’s draconian smoking ban yesterday.

The defiance was short-lived.

The comedian, who is playing Winston Churchill in the play Allegiance, ostentatiously lit and puffed on a cigar onstage while In full Winston Churchill costume at a photocall in Edinburgh’s Assembly Rooms. He ignored calls from his producer not to light up and vented his fury at the Smoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Act of 2005, which came into force in March.

He suggested that the audience could be warned before the show: “A third of a Romeo y Julieta will be smoked during this performance. If you find that offensive, f*** off.”

That is the good news in the global war against the New Prohibition movement. I wish that I could simply stop there and allow you to bask in the warm glow of victory.

That is not how things ended, unfortunately.

More details from sources at BBC News, the Sunday Times, and other sources below the fold.

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Sir Winston Churchill just might end up getting back his trademark cigar after all.

Paul Gudgin, director of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, has spoken out against the onstage smoking ban in Scotland. One Scottish MP has warned that the country is in danger of becoming an international laughing-stock because of their “Calvinist and puritanical” views.

Check below the fold for more information on the over-zealous crusade against smoking in this corner of the United Kingdom that is being termed “so bloody stupid” by wiser, if not cooler, heads.

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From Reuters comes word of yet another slide down the slope to a New Prohibition. As predicted back when Westin became the first hotel chain to go smoke-free, another major chain has decided to close their doors to smokers.

The Marriott Corporation, whose properties include the Marriott and J.W. Marriott hotels, the Renaissance and Ritz-Carlton hotel chains, and Courtyard by Marriott, Residence Inns, Fairfield Inns, SpringHill Suites, and TownePlace Suites, has jumped on the anti-smoking bandwagon. Beginning in September, they will have a strict “no smoking” policy.

This isn’t just a smoking ban for hotel rooms, however.

This time it is a ban against smoking anywhere on the premises of any Marriott property. The total ban forbids smoking in bars, restaurants, meeting rooms and other public places in all Marriott hotels. Light up anywhere on their property, and they will fine you a minimum of U.S. $200.00.

Strangely enough, while smokers are now completely unwelcome at Marriott hotels and resorts, the chain appears to have no problems with opening their doors to terrorist groups and neo-nazis.

The strange story of…oh, let’s call it “Smoking and Nazis and Terrorists — Oh My!” unfolds after the jump.

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British actor, comedian and director Mel Smith, set to portray Sir Winston Churchill at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, has raised two fingers firmly against Scotland’s ban of smoking onstage in dramatic performances.

As reported last month, Scotland’s draconian anti-smoking legislation makes it the only nation in the Western world where creativity and art must take a back-seat to political correctness and junk science. Sir Winston Churchill, so associated with cigar smoking that a size and shape of cigar was named after him, cannot be portrayed onstage in Scotland with a cigar in his hand.

Personally, I’d like to know which way Smith’s hand was facing at the time he made that gesture, and whether he was signalling victory or the Vicky.

I’m betting on the latter.

More from Anna Millar in Scotland after the jump.

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You may have never heard of the city of Fitchburg, Wisconsin, before reading this story.

You may never hear about Fitchburg again.

But for now, for today, you need to know that in Fitchburg, Wisconsin, there is a local government that is sensible, believes in restraint, and does not pass legislation based on trends…and bad science.

Every once in a while, it is good to win one.

More from Emily Winter at The Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin, below the fold.

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For the moment, at least, it is still possible to light up a cigar while enjoying a game of golf.

Even in San Francisco, thanks what I will charitably call a change of heart.

The Board of Supervisors in the City by the Bay had originally voted to ban smoking at the city’s five public golf courses. Fears of loss of revenue won out over charges of elitism and a puritanical desire to further curb freedom, so if you visit San Francisco you can still light up on the links.

That will not last, of course.

Eventually, the anti-smoking crazies will be moving to aggressively protect us from “Death by Second-Hand smoke” as the silent — and mythical — killer wafts from tee to tee. So, you had better enjoy the freedom to light up while golfing while you can.

And to help you enjoy golf and cigars a little more, we have some tips from the Stogie Guys.

The article contains four tips that are specific, and useful. More about that after the jump.

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