Far be it for me to tell someone else what to do. But please, do not subject me to it. Of course I did the exact same thing when I was a smoker, and I am seriously sorry for imposing my own habits on countless non-smokers. I know better now.

I have literally been “smoked out” of bars, pubs, coffeehouses and clubs. As I don’t want to smell like a nicotine barbecue when I get home, I tend to stick to places that are either non-smoking or have very good air-conditioning. Let me tell you, there aren’t many of either of these. So iImagine my delight when the discussion about a non-smoking law for public places re-emerged. And imagine my horror when it all turned into a farce. Yes, back in my smoking days it would have been the death of me to not be able to smoke at the dinner table. Drinking beer or coffee without a cigarette or two - or four? No way! But to be brutally honest: If I’d had to, I would have managed to step outside for a quick cigarette. Yes, even in winter. And just like so many smokers in so many other countries do.

Unfortunately Austria remains Austria. Where the tobacco industry is still going strong the government has simply not had the guts to forbid smoking in public places, restaurants and bars We’re doing things half-heartedly, the “Austrian way” and we’re even proud of it. There is now a law saying that all bars/pubs/restaurants bigger than 80 square metres must declare a separate room (at least 50 percent of the location) non-smoking. However, this same law also says the really small locations can still decide whether to allow smoking (the famous Loos Bar for example will remain a haven for smokers). Those between 50 and 80 square metres can still argue their way out of it because of the financial strain it might put on them to put in place a separate non-smoking room. And I think most of them will. Mostly because they’re afraid to lose their smoking customers. Surely if everywhere was 100 % smoke-free no one would actually have to worry about that, would they?

The Austrian province of Tirol has been ruled by the conservative ÖVP during the last 60 years. The elections last Sunday saw them lose their majority. The defeat was brought about by 67-year old party renegade Fritz Dinkhauser.

The Tyroleans have a tendency for dynasties. The current Governor Herwig van Staa is no less than the son-in-law of his legendary predecessor Eduard Wallnöfer, who ruled Tirol for 24 years until 1987. His successors shared his privilege of ruling by strong conservative majorities in the legislative. The Tyroleans’ ardent catholicism, Viennese tend to quip, keeps them from looking at the ballot – following the motto ‘One god, One party’. The elections of Sunday therefore were quite a revolution – from the outside. Crucial to the conservatives’ defeat was party dissident Fritz Dinkhauser, who competed as an independent, winning a fifth of seats in the regional parliament. His candidacy was not so much a general disagreement over policy but a personal rivalry with governor Herwig van Staa. Even his enemies admit trade union leader Dinkhauser has a strong will.

What made Mr. Dinkhauser’s appeal so popular with the population, though, is spite. Those voters who naturally gravitate to the Conservatives, were dissatisfied with the perceived pork-barreling within the ÖVP. The farmers, traditionally the strongest group within the party, are seen by many, even party loyalists, as too influential. One third of Tyrolean soil is owned by conservative-dominated agricultural cooperatives. Strong laws against foreign (non-Tyrolean, non-farming) land ownership even prevented ex-Minister of Finance Karl-Heinz Grasser from buy property there. Many people are dissatisfied and want the party to change, not the actual government.

They might get there way. Fritz Dinkhauser indicated even beforehand that he might be interested in what is dubbed a ‘conservative-conservative’ coalition. This in fact would reunite his faction with the ÖVP, and, ironically, make it stronger than ever. His only condition – to see Governor Van Staa removed from office, and become a caliph instead of The Caliph.

I caught Flogging Molly live in action at the Arena yesterday and managed to talk to them about, amongst other things, Float their fourth studio album.

Apart from two live/acoustic releases, it had been quiet around the seven musicians from Ireland and America for four years. A long time, in the music world. Former pro-skater Matt Hensley plays the accordion and concertina in Flogging Molly. He explains the four-year gap: „We should have a record out every two years, but it’s ended up being four years, because we tour so much. You need to take enough time off to write a record and have enough money to survive while you’re doing that. We should be doing it way more than we are, but we make most of our living by playing live, we’re a live band.“

On Float, Flogging Molly show their skill at combining modern day punk rock with Irish folk. The album cover and CD booklet show a range of instruments and an Irish landscape that you can not just hear in the songs, but practically taste and feel. This is in-your-face music. Music for thinking (Us Of Lesser Gods), music for drinking (Float) and after 2004’s Rock Against Bush effort, it is no surprise that politics have made it onto the album as well (Requiem For A Dying Song). The album was recorded in Ireland. A unique experience, according to Hensley: „It was really great. We got to go to Irish pubs, play Irish music, but maybe more important than anything, we got to stay away from other outside influences. Usually , we do our records in big cities like Chicago or Los Angeles and there are a lot of distractions. This time, we were so far out there, that we could really just concentrate on the music.“

In 2004, Drunken Lullabies became one of the main themes for the Rock Against Bush campaign. Has Float intentionally been released during another US election year? „No, but we have become semi-political,“ Hensley explains. „Obviously, we’re not big Bush supporters and at the last elections we tried very hard to not have him be re-elected. We’re a band that’s affected by what’s going on around us in the world, especially because two of the guys live in Ireland and the rest of us in America and we tour around the world so much. So we have an idea of what’s going on. Music cuts through any language boundary, it’s one of the greatest communicators.“ Float is available at any decent music store NOW!

www.floggingmolly.com

I am a journalist. And I’m still young. Hence I’m (still) of the idealistic, change-the-world kind. I still think I might actually be able to contribute to making this world a more bearable place. But lately I’ve begun to ponder whether I’m in the right field for that.

I’m not one much for blood and gore, and words like “scandalous”, “explosive” and “sensational” in a newspaper article usually make me twitch. Yet in my line of work I’m quite regularly exposed to this side of journalism. And every time some poor person’s life story gets exploited for public viewing, every time I’m more or less nudged to put a spin on a story, and every time I get criticised for not writing “thrilling” enough – I throw up a little in my mouth.

So I’ve been trying to stay the hell away from this week’s drama-story about Amstetten. The fact that some media released the name of the victims makes me incredibly angry. What about protecting victims? Ever heard of that? And while I don’t give a damn about the bastard I still think it defies journalistic values to show his face in the media as long as he’s not actually and officially convicted. Even if it is pretty obvious that he did it (and actually confessed later on): as long as he has to be presumed innocence (in dubio pro reo, anyone?) his face must not be shown as long as it’s not in the public interest (e.g. looking for a murderer on the run, etc.)

Is it only me? Or does the media go to far?

´It‘s possible, yes`. You could feel the unease, journalists said. The Austrian ministry does collect data on the sexual orientation of its employees, Interior miniser Günther Platter admitted. But only in cases of internal investigations obviously. Obviously. The minister had been pressed before about allegations regarding ´irregularities` occuring in his department. The parliamentary investigators were still astounded when they witnessed this confession last week. 

What consequences this will have for Austrian politics? Probably none. The Ministry of Interior has been in a state of denial for months concerning allegations that they are too, err, lenient on the proliferation of personal data among government agencies. Even fairly impartial bystanders have taken notice. In late 2007, a new law allowing the police to make unlimited use of traffic surveillance cameras on motorways was introduced. A feat that was called ´a pathway to the ways of the German Democratic Republic` by none other than Head of the Constitutional Court, Karl Korinek. 

Fingerprints – you leave them everywhere. But from 2009 on you will be asked to give them -  to the Feds. Health insurance cards and passports will both require a fingerprint from next year on. Complex discussions in the media are answered mostly monosyllabically by Mr. Platter. Greater success in the combat of crime is argument enough, he says. Even though it was only a few years ago that high ranking police officers were convicted of passing on confidential data to political opponents of Haider´s FPÖ. Months after this ´Spitzelaffaire`, Haider won the elections of 1999 in a landslide. 

With a global current towards the ´transparent citizen` Austria is the European leader, NGOs complain. Yet civil rights activists can’t seem to gain public opinion. With little awareness for privacy in the general public things are doomed to get worse.

Graffiti Wall

I stumbled over this graffiti wall in the 19th district, in the Werthersheim garden. Graffiti as street-art is a part of subculture and still not appreciated in many ways by many people who are don’t consider it as art, which actually is available to everyone all the time. And mostly forgetting the enrichment they are bringing into the greyness of the city. While most graffiti-artists still run the risk of getting into trouble if caught ‘damaging’ property, a project called “Weinerwand” has started to enable artists to do their thing on the legal surfaces in Vienna. These are marked with a “Viennese Pigeon” sign (WinerTaube). More information about the project can be found at   http://www.wienerwand.at/doc/wienerwand.html.