TWO reasons for a small celebration - one on a national scale, the other essentially local.

First, the ban on smoking in public places. Long overdue, totally justified: life will be very much more pleasant throughout the country as a result.

Second, the extension of the Winchester alcohol exclusion zone to cover not only the city centre but all the suburbs as well.

Properly enforced, this will also make life much more pleasant for many of us - certainly compared with last summer.

So, everyone will be happy, won't they? Well, no, not everybody, and even I am left with some nagging worries.

Am I being totally selfish in being so pleased at these two developments? How would I feel if I was a smoker or if I was classified as a problem drinker with, possibly, other issues as well?

Is my reaction more one of smugness than mere satisfaction?

Well, I just hope I'm not being smug. But I have to admit, I'm not too worried about people not being able to smoke wherever they wish.

They'll be able to look after themselves, I'm sure.

On the other hand, the drinkers who simply moved on to Hyde and the North Walls park area when the initial ban was introduced, will now presumably relocate somewhere else, leaving the underlying problem unresolved.

I don't know what the answers are to social issues like this, but just passing the buck from one place to another cannot be one of them.

Saying that is a bit pathetic really, but increasingly I find myself in this situation.

The wisdom I seem to be acquiring as I get older is that, (a) there aren't that many easy answers, and (b) the simple ones often aren't accepted.

Take drink-driving for instance. What could be simpler?

If you are going to drive, don't drink. Yet that seems too much for some people.

Or, if you don't want to be caught speeding, don't exceed the limit.

That, at times, seems too much for me!

So how did we get on to driving? Oh yes, as a non-smoker and without a drink problem, I was welcoming two new regulations.

When I started this piece I was thinking about having a bit of fun listing other things I would ban.

You know - men with pony-tails, prams in shops, adult cyclists on pavements, baseball caps worn backwards or, even worse, sideways, the word "like" as in "he, like, fell over" and so on.

But then, as I thought of those in the park, it all got a bit serious.

Writer, broadcaster and journalist Ron Allison lives in Winchester, and is a former official press spokesman for HM The Queen.