All sorts of bad things can happen in a city like Tauranga; it's lucky we've got the council to protect us.

Say what you will about the council – and if you ever glance at the comments on stories at Sunlive it seems clear that people do – at least they're there when we need to guard against potential unpleasantness occurring.

So the cockles of my heart were warmed earlier this week when these defenders of public safety announced they were considering a ban on smoking outside restaurants and bars. About time too.

It's clearly not safe for smokers to ply their disgusting habits in open, well-ventilated outdoor spaces. Only last week it was rumoured that an innocent member of the public, doing nothing more than walk down the pavement of The Strand, was actually able to smell the smoke from a cigarette as they passed by.

Luckily, this extreme exposure to the terrible risks of second-hand smoke was largely hidden by the belching of exhaust fumes from the nearby road, but the point remains – a subject of this town was forced to smell a cigarette. It may have been brief, it may have been from a distance, but we can only be relieved at council's swift action to protect its citizenry.

Perhaps I've misinterpreted this, however.

Perhaps council is simply looking after the wellbeing of smokers. Fair enough, then, to impinge upon any personal liberties that smokers have – this is for their own good, those poor deluded nicotine addicts, sad souls too far gone to make decisions for themselves.

But council is being too timid.

Be brave I say! After all, it was the council who saw what a worry Masonic Park on The Strand was. It might have flooded! (We're not sure when, but council assure us that it might have, if left ‘unfixed' long enough).

Thank heavens they decided to put an end to that useless bit of undulating grass where people could relax on a warm summer day. Concrete and flat ground, that's what the city needed. And, let's not forget, it contains the country's single most boring historic site – 'Come and see some bricks, they're really old. Well, not really, but quite old. No, they don't do anything, but they're really old. Not really, but quite old.”

But back to smokers. Smokers only make up 25 per cent of the population. That's not much of a target group.

Why not help drinkers as well? After all, drinking has now been banned from any public area since it has been found that residents here can't be trusted.

Want to sit on a sand dune and watch the evening sun gloriously setting over the Pacific Ocean? With a picnic blanket and a glass of wine? Sorry son, you're nicked – don't come here with your filthy dangerous habits, get back inside.

But the problem with having to get back inside licensed premises, as I suspect vigilant city councillors will have noticed, is that there are sometimes intoxicated people in bars. This is hardly good enough in squeaky clean Tauranga.

Not only is it surely harmful to the drinker's health but it's even possible that bars occasionally illegally serve people who are over the prescribed limit.

There's an obvious solution for the council: breathalysers in bars, so you can only get a drink once you prove you're sober. It's a vital measure. Otherwise, despite the council's best intentions, it's possible that someone one day will accidentally have fun in a way that is not entirely safe. Can't have that here.

The Divine Devilles, making a return to the Art Gallery stage.

And, lest you are wondering whether the description 'music column” has been permanently retired, let me mention an upcoming gig. In a couple of weeks (Thursday August 6) Ali Penny and Dorothy-Jane Gosper, who call themselves The Divine Devilles, return to the Art Gallery. They were here a year or so back and put on a fantastic show of blues performed with infectious good humour and keyboards, harp and vocals.

Between them they've won a swag of music awards in Australia (Best Female Vocalist, Best Jazz/Blues Artist and many more) and put on a dynamite concert, as anyone from last time will remember. Show starts at 7pm, tickets $25 from the Gallery.

watusi@thesun.co.nz