Am I actually still on the smoking thread?

Thanks Charley, it appears I am!

Smoking is a disgusting habit. But then so is drinking.

Anyway.

I should, strictly speaking, be against the ban, but I couldn't be more pleased.

At least it's enforcable, meaningful, and serves a purpse. Unlike the ban on hunting with hounds...

If you should be against it, does that make you a smoker or a publican?

Just beeing nosey is all!

It makes me a Conservative, who really shouldn't support regulation like that.

Ahhhhhhhhh! Good answer.

Quote: Aaron @ June 1, 2007, 2:35 AM

Smoking is a disgusting habit. But then so is drinking.

View original

Aaron, you're quite right, and a recent government sponsored report published in the Lancet ranked alcohol as the fifth most dangerous drug in Britain, with Heroin at number one and tobacco ninth. The criteria they used was

- danger to the user
- potential for addiction
- problem to society

Canabis came in bellow tobacco and Ecstasy was right at the bottom of the list, although it is a class A drug, currently.

The government has not used the findings to date because they don't like them. I in 4 people in the UK smoke but almost everyone consumes alcohol, so there is little chance of an alcohol ban, or restrictions of any kind.

BTW, please don't flame me for defending smoking, I'm not, I'm just pissed off by the hypocrisy of the government.

That's the nature of Government, unfortunately. This one just seem to be so much better at it than everyone else...

The smokers will all die soon if they carry on smoking anyway.

Natural selection, in a way.

As the biggest smoking fascist anyway, maybe I shouldn't comment. But it killed my dad a couple of years ago (heart disease he never knew about at 56) and he smoked less than 20 a day. It was my biggest pet hate well before then.

I think the habit is bollocks, it's crap, selfish and if I had a modified Delorean the first place I'd go back to was the bloke who brought tobacco over and kill him before he managed it and every subsequent person who tried. I'd rather people injected class-A drugs; let them affect themselves but not everyone around them.

I'll say this for the ban: when we went to Edinburgh last year it was fantastic to go out to a club and leave at 2am not stinking of the putric smell of smoke. I think people'll find a hell of a lot more non-smokers venturing out to the pubs and clubs who didn't before mainly because of the smokey atmosphere. I know I will.

<gets off soap box>

Dan

Well said.

Some class A drugs affect people around them. I knew a guy who stuck his sawn off weapon in somebody's in order to fund his habit. I did tell him to try a building society next time. The little girl selling rose petal perfume outside her house was very frightened.

I stopped smoking when Melanie C led a campaign against it. I thought if we ever met it might make me look more sexually attractive to her.

I’ve never smoked ciggies… never even tried it. I got past the experimental/peer pressure stage at school by hiding in the library.

I did try a cigar at my friend’s wedding last year… cripes knows why… I guess I was very drunk. Anyway, this fat Monte Christo was handed to me so I lit the thing, puffed for a few seconds and then threw it away. Tasted like cat poo, frankly!

I’m all for the ban. It has to be the one of the most stupid habits known to man. I currently avoid most pubs and clubs because I don’t like my eyes stinging, coughing my lungs out… or my clothes and hair (and even skin!) smelling of smoke in the morning. And you can have a smoke hang-over too… bad headache etc… probably from the lack of oxygen.

I realise that some pubs will lose their regular clientele but there are many more people who prefer cleaner air. I don’t think they’ll suffer too badly… and they may even prosper.

It’s interesting that the ban has arrived during a Labour government. A pint and a cigarette have always been seen as the right of the ‘working man’. It would have happened at some point anyway but I bet there are more than a few very disillusioned Labour supporters who feel yet another nail being driven in…

I want all the men off that ship right now.