BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iran to ban water-pipe in public

Hmmm...once again, the moral strictures of a paternalistic government wins over what should be the democratic decisions of its citizens.

I was originally going to use the word aspiration instead of decision when I am reminded that Iran is a democratic state in name. After all, it does has elections on a wider franchise than most Western nations (with the exceptions of the Nordic ones and definately all Asian ones). There's only the slight problem with regards to the Council of Guardians basically undermining how free they really are. When 90% of reformist are barred from standing in elections on trumpted up spurious charges, it's hard to claim to be democratic. At least on our sunny island, the opposition doesn't even submit names in the first place...=P