Smoking ban what do you think?

[MilkTrayMan]

...plus we ruled the world pretty much then - we had the best education, best services etc... in the world. It was only 100 years ago!

The good ol' days eh?!

NO coincidence things started going downhill once women got the vote then, I don't suppose??!...lol...;-)

Anyone recall the fact that they deliberately outlive us, on average, just so that they have the last word + tell us 'I told U so' as well, out of sheer spite??!...lol...

[monopoly23]

I get the feeling you've had bad experiences wih women MTM...

 

Just remember that they're not all the same, just like not all men are lazy, farting, nose picking, good for nothing layabouts.

[noobrider]

the smoking ban is a travesty that should never have been allowed ...what happened to human rights......almost as silly as it being illegal to commit suicide....how are they going to prosecute you when your dead?...or even todays press release where you now have to have a licence for your sporran.....

[The cobbett slayer]

Mrs Slayer (clever cow who stopped smoking 20 a day when she found out she was pregnant 3 years ago) has bought me a hypnosis CD.

 

I'll give it a go but like most smokers I am a nicotine addict. I do want to give up but my addiction makes it hard for me to imagine life without my cigarettes.

 

The smoking ban itself won't make a lot of difference to me in terms of where I smoke. I don't smoke in the house or in my car because of my little boy. I rarely smoke at work even though we have been given a designated smoking area - God bless the NHS! If I do find time to go out it is invariably as a family so we are outside anyway.

 

My biggest concern about the ban is the affect it has on people who need to smoke. If a drug addict or alcoholic goes into hospital, they are given drugs to cope with withdrawal. Nicotine addicts are left to go "cold turkey". Only yesterday I came across a man dressed in only pyjamas and a dressing gown standing in a bus shelter outside Rotherham General Hospital so he could have a smoke. He was 400 yards from the hospital entrance because the "smoke monitors" had thrown him off the site. It was pi**ing it down with rain so I put him in my vehicle and took him back to the hospital.

 

Funny how we can protect paedophiles and child killers (the Jamie Bulger case springs to mind) but light a fag and suddenly you are a threat to the world.

[Robertxc]

I smoked 30 a day for years. One day I read Allen Carr's book and have never smoked since. No withdrawal, no cravings, nothing. I put it down after reading it and KNEW that I was now a non-smoker. Like Wales, Scotland has had a ban on smoking in the workplace for a while. I think it's the single best thing the Scottish parliament has done so far. And I agree, the best bit is coming home form a good night out without stinking like an ashtray.

[monopoly23]

I also read that book. I got to about chapter 9 and I really did not want to smoke ever again, but he insists that you carry on whilst reading. I finished the book but didn't end up having the same feelings as I did when I was at chapter 9. If I had just stopped instead of carrying on like he said, I would probably be a non-smoker now.

[SteveH2508]

The bit that really grips my sh*t is that PRIVATE members clubs are being told to ban smoking but the House of Commons bars are exempt!!

 

And prisoners can smoke in their cells......

 

Lightbulb moment!

 

Torch a certain HQ in Chester - get locked up - board/lodging paid for AND indoor smokes!

 

(Only kidding!!);-)

[Russjo]

I've tried giving up a few times now , but I became a hermit every time, because I was frightened to go anywhere which might tempt me. I think it will certainly do me a favour because when I know I'm in a non-smoking area, it doesn't seem to bother me as much. Trying for the umpteenth time today to give up

[jansus]

I agree that the smoking ban in pubs is probably a good idea - and in principle approve - however, the time and money that the government has spent on this in leaflets advertising legal advice etc etc is criminal and time wasting - Personally i think they should be spending more time clearing up the damage caused to our youngsters that has been instigated by the de-classificationof cannabis. They are at more risk from this and the consequences than someone puffing smoke in their face.

 

Only a personal view I know - and another debate - but I am so worried by the amount of young depressed paranoid young teenagers i see around us.

 

So in other words - the government should get its priorities right - and stop burdening businesses with more red-tape with yet another Health and safety issue- soon we wont be able to make any decisions ourselves - we will totally rely on others to measure each risk for us.

 

Jansus

[Yoda]

I smoked 30 a day for years. One day I read Allen Carr's book and have never smoked since. No withdrawal, no cravings, nothing. I put it down after reading it and KNEW that I was now a non-smoker. Like Wales, Scotland has had a ban on smoking in the workplace for a while. I think it's the single best thing the Scottish parliament has done so far. And I agree, the best bit is coming home form a good night out without stinking like an ashtray.

 

I read that book too. Alan Carr is my guru. I also knew that I was a non-smoker the minute I finished it. The funny thing is though, I do not mind other people smoking around me. I don't even mind the smell (not that I think it's pleasant either) and I can quite happily sit in a pub with my smoker friends. I think the public should have been allowed to vote with their feet. Smoking permitted places & non smoking places so we have the freedom of choice.

[Robertxc]

Well, in Scotland at least the legislation is designed to protect pub and bingo workers from passive smoking, that's why the ban is specifically 'in the workplace'. I can appreciate all the human rights arguments etc., but how many smokers have you ever met who, given their life to live over again, would never have started in the first place. For me, Allen Carr's book was, without question the best £6.99 I have EVER spent. After I read it my wife (who was also on 30 a day) read it too and never smoked again. Now, if I could just do something about the pie abuse...

[Bookworm]

I say make all tobacco product illegal, and re-classify tobacco as a drug.

 

Before anyone bleats on about loss of revenue to the government and it could never happen, I'll give you one word: Opium. One of the biggest revenue makers for the British Empire, yet it couldn't be allowed to carry on, and quite rightly so.

 

In 100 years, I'd take a bet they will look back and wonder why on earth it took us so long to ban such a dangerous and addictive substance.

 

Personally, I can't wait for the total ban to come into effect, as if there is one thing obvious to non-smokers, it's that most smokers faced with the choice of abstaining or not in "mixed" company, will light up. Apologies to those who do have a bit more respect than that. ;-)

[MilkTrayMan]

I get the feeling you've had bad experiences wih women MTM...

Au contraire ma petite fleur d'argent!

...Am just a tongue-in-cheek chauvanist...+ PROUD of it!...lol...

 

 

 

 

...all men are lazy, farting, nose picking, good for nothing layabouts.

???...Are most kids' primary care providers NOT women, in the kids' most formative years?

Ergo...Women bring trainee Blokes up to be like that, do they not??!...lmao...

[MilkTrayMan]

...Before anyone bleats on about loss of revenue to the government and it could never happen, I'll give you one word: Opium. One of the biggest revenue makers for the British Empire, yet it couldn't be allowed to carry on, and quite rightly so.

 

In 100 years, I'd take a bet they will look back and wonder why on earth it took us so long to ban such a dangerous and addictive substance.

Would U care to explain WHY the British government (...as part of NATO) has allowed the poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, to reach pre-Taleban levels??

[angry cat]

I am a baby boomer, born in 1946 just after the war. Therefore, I became a teenager in the late 1950's going into the 1960's.

Almost everyone smoked; Royalty, adored screen idols, Rock 'n' Roll icons, (including The King) advertisements for cars, fashion etc., showed people smoking! example: Coco Chanel.

 

The government are factually to blame for my smoking!

 

I hate this government, they want to turn me into a 'Criminal' because I smoke. I vigorously protest at having my 'Liberties' taken away.

 

Banning smoking is just the tip of the iceberg; apparently, there are moves afoot to have snoopers checking out how much wine we consume in our back gardens...Outrageous.

 

Is our beautiful country turning into a police state. We won the second war war but it is begining to feel as though the nazi's won.

 

Love Angry Cat

[dave]

almost as silly as it being illegal to commit suicide....how are they going to prosecute you when your dead?

 

Committing suicide is no longer an offence.

 

The point about the ban is not whether it's a good thing or not for people's health - it's about giving them an inch and they'll take a mile.

 

Smoking first (or 4x4 drivers really, as they have already become demonised), then drinking, then butter, then salt, then eggs, where does it end?

 

It's also the breeding of Hitlers little henchmen - smoking snoops going to pubs to grass people up, FFS - what a country!

 

Even if you have little problem with that sort of behavior, and in my view everyone should have a problem with it, you are still allowing the petty minded Sun reading, educationally disabled to dictate to others what they can and can't do.

 

For instance, some years ago, my dad had just bought a car at auction. He parked it on his drive - it had no road tax.

 

The next day, someone had painted "No Tax Illegal" on the back of it in white paint. Now aside from the fact that his car was parked on a private drive at the time, and thus, NOT illegal in any way, did the person who painted it think about the fact that criminal damage IS illegal and a far worse crime? Let alone the issue of traspass.

 

People are people - we are not snoops for the Govt. who are intent on keeping us locked up in our houses paying them for the privalige of being there.

 

This needs to change, and I'm shocked at the amount of people that miss the point and believe that to ban everything is a good idea.

 

There should still be free trade in opium, why not? It's not illegal in all countries, and nor should it be; here included.

 

I haven't seen many opium addicts running riot through the streets lately, nor have I seen many smokers doing the same - yet STILL it's illegal (or smoking will be soon). Why?

[Curlyben]

Great points there Dave, seems we have found a time vortex, back to 1984 !!!

[dave]

Which of course was called "The last man in Europe" before the publishers changed the name (they reversed the year it was written - 1948)

 

Suddenly, Niemöller's poem doesn't sound so ridiculous after all.

[dave]

Anyway, I'm down to 15 eggs a day now - I used to be on about 30, a true chain egger. I can't wait for the ban in public places. 15-30 eggs a day will cause the NHS extra pressure I'm sure.

 

As a side note, I was round a friends last night - one who still watches the propaganda machine - ooh, sorry, TV, and saw an advert for an upcoming TV programme called "The boy chain smoker" or similar. Apparently there's a 15 year old who smokes 15 fags a day.

 

Chain smoker?? What? How is 15 fags a day (less than 1 pack of fags) chain smoking - nice subtle propaganda. I know everyone gets upset when comparisons are drawn between 1930's Germany, but at least they were honest with their propaganda.

[Spiceskull]

It seems to me that this Government is doing what it always does best...look for the soft option so that meaningless targets can be met.

 

The first, and most obvious, target for demonisation was and still is car drivers. In no particular order you can be prosecuted for where/how/when you park, how fast you drive, how you drive, how you "maintain" your vehicle, tax, insurance, MOT offences, number plates, who sits where in the car, how many people you have in the car...and then you are also penalised on the fuel you use, changing address (for your license) and that does not include the other liberty depriving issue of ID card/licence combinations...

 

Don't get me wrong, some of the driving laws are reasonable and sensible, but when "ignorance of the law" is no excuse, how on earth are you supposed to know whether or not you are actually breaking it?

 

So...targets. With so many people becoming potential criminals, and driving offences committed by practically every single person, it is an easy thing to prosecute 100,000 motoring offences every year (with very little protest) ergo, 100,000 crimes solved annually. This figure dilutes the overall "serious" crime figures solved (as a percentage,) and therefore we are living in a "safer" society thanks to this Government.

 

Now it is the turn of smokers. How many people will get a spot fine/caution in the first twelve months? 50,000? 100,000? Another 50,000/100,000 crimes "solved" and the "reduction" in serious crime is diluted by a further 30%...what a wonderfully safe country we live in...

 

Next on the agenda will be "fatties," those people who selfishly deplete the resources of the NHS (durrr! these people obviously do not pay tax and NI to help fund the NHS in the first place)...

 

Then it will be gingers, then freckly people, then people with ingrowing toenails...and woe betide the nose pickers, the pimple pickers, coughers, sneezers, oldies...someday, sometime, everyone will be a criminal for some reason or another...and this is why THIS Government is seriously considering intervention in your criminal career from the day you are born...

 

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaggghhh!!!

[jansus]

I believe that if the government really had our health as a priority - they would subsidise gyms- provide more accessible sports facilities - not sell off school playing fields - and subsidise public transport (at made it fit to use)to save on carbon emmissions.

 

Bring back decent cooking lessons at school and better health education, ban supermarket crap food - Then let us make up our own minds!

 

 

jansus

[dave]

ban supermarket crap food - Then let us make up our own minds!

jansus

 

Now, there's a contradiction if ever I saw one ;-)

 

(don't hit me, I'm just joking!)

[Bookworm]

I love the way that the same people who complain about propaganda, 1984, nazis, etc ( no fear of over-reaction then ) are invariably the ones who are quite happy to inflict their own rules (breathe it in, you bstrds!) and only complain when their own "freedom" is being impinged upon.... Voltaire has never seemed further away... *sigh*

 

The "pre-Taliban opium growing levels" comment's relevance escapes me altogether, unless there is something profound to be garnered between the opium ban of the early 20th century and 2007 afghanistan. The point *I* was making is the knowledge we have of tobacco products, both in terms of addiction and toxicity has been known for a good few years now, and I am utterly convinced that history will judge harshly governments which failed to act and ban them altogether.

[dave]

We're not inflicting rules, we're merely excercising a right - one which will be taken away soon.

 

Your counter argument will no doubt be, "what about non-smokers rights?" - well the answer is simple.

 

There are pubs that will not allow smoking already - therefore, there is a choice. Non-smokers already have the choice - smokers will not have the choice.

 

I think history will judge governments harshly (or at least it should) who have consistently removed rights from their people.

 

History judged the Nazis did it not?

[Spiceskull]

There are pubs that will not allow smoking already - therefore, there is a choice. Non-smokers already have the choice - smokers will not have the choice.

That sums it up nicely - to protect the rights of others, who already have their rights protected by choice, it is deemed necessary to remove the rights, and therefore the choices, of other others...

 

Let us not forget - smokers are a minority of the UK population...that is not to condone what is, admittedly, a filthy habit...but to remove the rights of minorities is contrary to the election manifesto of this Government...