IT WILL be fascinating to see how our smoker politicians cope with the ban, given their tendency to ignore the law. They have ensured that the House of Representatives would have a big smoking area, but what of the ministries?
Will Paphite health minister Christos Patsalides carry on smoking in his ministry? He ignored the existing law, which banned smoking in government buildings in the past, but will he comply with it now?
I doubt we will be seeing him puffing away on the pavement outside the Yiorkion, which is often occupied by Chinese working girls. Being a Paphite, Pats buys into the myth of the government minister as a special individual who does not have to obey the laws made for lesser mortals.
In this respect he is very similar to his big-shot buddy and mentor Marios Garoyian, who likes to advertise his importance by keeping plane-loads of passengers waiting for him to board. And when on the plane, from what we hear, Garoyian makes a habit of going into the cockpit and smoking a fag or two.
He does this only on Cyprus Airways flights, on which the pilots know who he is and feel embarrassed to stop him smoking. But there have been occasions when a captain has refused to allow Garoyian into the cockpit for a smoke, teaching him a much needed lesson in humility.
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