General Chat

Did anyone whing when they made a law to wear seatbelts.made it illegal to drink and drive or any other the other rule and regulations that govern our lives,,,,,,,,some of the above laws made in our lifetime,,,,,,,it was just accepted,,,,

law is -----no smoking in a public confined place...lots of places had NO Smoking before the ban and it was accepted without question..just accept it ,its not the end of the world to wait for a smoke or smoke outside if you want......

,,,,,,,,and yes I am a smoker!!!, with the respect for other if they dont.

Yes Muffs you get into conversations with total strangers....... ;-)

Did anyone whing when they made a law to wear seatbelts.made it illegal to drink and drive or any other the other rule and regulations that govern our lives,,,,,,,,some of the above laws made in our lifetime,,,,,,,it was just accepted,,,,

law is -----no smoking in a public confined place...lots of places had NO Smoking before the ban and it was accepted without question..just accept it ,its not the end of the world to wait for a smoke or smoke outside if you want......

,,,,,,,,and yes I am a smoke!!!, with the respect for other if they dont.

Yes Muffs you get into conversations with total strangers....... ;-)

It is not the job of a government to decide what is good or bad for people and then make choices for them. Unfortunately most governments dislike doing their real job, which is difficult, and love to take time out to interfere with the private lives of the citizenry, or in the UK "subjects". These days you can add view of life to doctors.

People like doing lots of things which are bad for their health or wealth or both. It is their money, their choice.One example is censorship which would be back in a flash if some people had their way. Another is gambling.

Getting back to smoking, alcohol and illegal drugs (most are no more harmful than the legal ones) smoking has carved a niche for itself as many people do not like the smoke. That is why there are all the restrictions the other arguments though logical are also hypocritical.

Trying to stop people drinking or smoking or raising tax levels to a degree beyond what people are prepared or are able to pay always has the same result, a huge boost to organised crime.

The import of not only tax unpaid (but otherwise kosher) cigarettes and alcohol is now dwarfed by the illegal import of fake cigarettes from China and alcohol from E Europe. Apart from the revenue loss this is already having serious, immediate and expensive effects on people's health. Yet somehow the ever shrinking border force is expected to do more and more with fewer and fewer people. In any case their are practical limits to enforcement as the experience of the American prohibition showed all too well.

The government should have a big rethink about the whole issue.

OK, you say, smoking costs the government money. So do many other things inc fitness for sport - the thousands of minor and not so minor injuries this produces create a very real NHS bill. Nobody is suggesting a big NHS tax on health clubs or JD Sports ... yet. Other countries do not have an NHS and so this argument does not apply. As I said it is really about not liking the smoke.

Taking away the covers ? Oh my what a joke. It is already possible to buy metal packets with a label of yr choice. All that would happen would be the creation of an instant eBay / app business in custom cigarette packet covers lol and all kind of internet information sites.

Juveniles like to do anything perceived as prohibited. Doris Lessing once said that if you want yr children to learn to read leave books around marked "prohibited, adults only". Dark green cigarette packets hidden behind the shutters could hardly be more alluring. Most juveniles have a contact over 18 who will help out.

Hiding the packets, taking away the display is just inconvenient. There are 1001 ways to get around this.

Like most things to do with public "morality" - sex, drugs, censorship - any government rarely approaches the issue on logic but usually on a mish mash of half truth, ignorance and prejudice. It should stay away from these issues apart from ensuring that tax does not exceed levels of practical enforcement as is the case right now.

It may be worth commenting that over the centuries a penchant for many activities which were illegal at the time and immoral to many was rarely a problem for the ruling class unless they chose for it to be so.

As to "smoking kills". Well someday the grim reaper will arrive it is the one thing you can be sure of. I have lots of heavy smokers in my tree who carried on despite the health warnings and lived well into their 70s and 80s. One made it to 99 and had 10 daughters - died of flu.

Health warnings ? These go back to King James. Modern warnings started getting serious in the 1960s but were widely ignored.

fwiw I gave up smoking long ago ( not compatible with playing squash ) but by OH likes standing outside in the rain ...

oh yeah ,,,, saving money. Well I guess UKGov for starters could stop giving it away to the UN, EU, Argentina, India and spend it at home or reduce the taxes. They won't 'cos giving other people's money away is such fun.

Its rubbish to say there isnt any help out there for the smoker who wants to quit,,,,,,masses of help in ovr the counter stuff that lawfully there to buy,,,drug addicts and drinkers dont have free option.

Drug or Drink addiction needs specialist care and any medication that helps towards a cure is lawfully controlled as it should be,,,,,,smoking cigs dont give any of the physco problems that come with drugs and drink......

...also it's lovely and warm under the patio heaters. :-D :-D :-D :-D

I don't miss smoking in restaurants or pubs...I always find the beer gardens quite fun when I'm out now...us smokers tend to chat away to each other to pass the time whereas we probably wouldn't have done in the old days.

I think we could all cite examples of folk with bad manners be they smokers or non smokers but certainly one inconsiderate woman doesn't point to every smoker being rude....most of us are very nice.....unless we've run out of the dreaded weed or can't find our lighters of course lolololol x

Rambling Rose I have to agree with your post

A woman of similar age asked me whilst dining in a restaurant, 'would I mind if she smoked '. Being given a question I answered truthfully' I would prefer not.

Her immediate response was, 'well why don't you sit over there then ? My reply was' why pretend to be polite when you have no intention of considering anyone else. She lit up, and I had all on not to laugh, as I think if she could have fitted two ciggies in her mouth at the time she would have done.......one to finish her meal and the other one to calm her down.-jl

I rather feel at my age, that I do not need anyone, Government or otherwise, to tell me where I should or shouldn't smoke. I reserve my right to do so, which these days is mainly in my own home, or garden. I am not a child, who needs a nanny, and FGS, my children are older than most of this so called Cabinet. So I think I know what I am doing.
As to the locking away in shuttered displays, it is ludicrous. At the price the government keeps putting them up to, I should be able to see my option of purchase.
In our T**co, the staff are incapeable of serving people quieing (sp) for cigarettes AND Lottery together. If I had a choice, I would speak with my feet and walk to a small tobaconist/wine shop, and buy them there. And maybe whilst I am doing that, I would be buying whatever I went into T**co to buy, elsewhere. Wait until that hits Sir whatever T**co.

Julia, in her kitchen smoking,
in Derbyshire

Foggy I think this is slightly off course. Sharing passive smoking is not the same as watching someone drink or eat all the pies. I think most non smokers are ambivalent about someone having cigarettes

. If someone made me share a pork pie or drink some St*lla Art*is that for me would be as bad as the smoke but I have the choice and wouldn't touch either. The difference is that drink and naughty food in moderation is fine but cigarettes are not good. Denial is possibly the best way of dealing with it. -jl

Aaaa now you've said that I remember those points Neubie...shows how long it's been since I last quit lolololol x

Oh Stray .. I love my Blankie <3

But seriously I don't believe plain packaging will make one iota of difference to those who already smoke and although the tobacco lobby appears to be getting weaker they will resist this move to the enth degree

The supermarkets are already straining under the new laws with longer queues at the shuttered cig counters. many customers going to small shops that are not yet governed by it.

To smoke or not to smoke is a matter of choice, personally I don,t like smoking in any confined space so didn't object to those restrictions at all

But believe I have the right to select the brand I choose and not feel ostracized for doing so

Muffy .. just the one fag ends up costing about £75000 and you don't 'give up' anything ..
I love those points in the book. Not once are you treated like some sort of sub human leper and the minute you stop you are a non smoker .. if you start again there is no shame and you aren't a Wally x
Brilliant man who smoked 60 a day and extended his life, although the lung cancer caught up with him in the end
:-D :-(

As a non smoker though, you are often made to feel like a total monster if you reply to the query "do you mind if I smoke?" with "yes I do mind to be honest" people look at you as though you are attempting to turn their life support machine off ;-)

Charlie,

what about people who drink, do we lock them in a room so they can drink themselves to death, or people who eat too much, do we also lock them away so they can get fatter and fatter until they pop off, I think not.

We should look at ourselves before we put others down because they do something we personally don't like.

There is no such thing as --cant--- if you want to quit smoking you will,and can......

I see smoking as the lesser evil of addiction,

Fags dont make the brain addled,

Fags dont make anyone a loony and out of control.

Fags dont make anyone a criminal to feed their habit.

Fags just dont have that effect.....


Drugs and Drink all apply to the above.and these present danger so programes that help wean their addiction is very much needed.

But for packets of cigarettes to appear incocnito is just plain daft as the people who want to implement it.

compared to my younger days I am suprised at how many young people dont smoke.

I've given up several times.........the first time I used patches...all the other times I read the Alan Carr book.

Still have it somewhere........when the urge takes me to give up AGAIN I'll have to dig it out because it really worked for me.......just a shame I didn't keep it to hand each time I succumbed and had *just the one it can't do any harm* on a night out and was back smoking full on again within days lol

Longest I've given up for is just under 2 yrs......what a wally to start again !!!!!!x :-S :-S :-S

Wisechild I would be more convinced if your friends were writing what you think they believe and I agree we are all entitled to our opinion, that has never been an issue-jl

I have a number of non smoking friends who have no objection whatever to people smoking around them & who think that the non smoking laws are unreasonable.
Clearly you are not one of them.
We are all entitled to our opinions.

I have tried hypnosis , Zyban, Champix .. hypnosis lasted about 3 weeks . The other two made me give up but the side effects were horrendous so I ended up giving up the prescription drugs , which by the way were origionally created as an anti depressant and went back to smoking even more.
Then someone suggested I read a book by Allen Carr.
Once I had figured out this was not the ' Chatty man' on TV I bought the book.
Absolutely fantastic .. took me 3 attempts but everything he says makes perfect sense and this should be the way the government approach the problem people, with a smoking adiction have ,who want to stop .
As for hiding them behind metal shutters ?
I find this a little hypocritical when the supermarkets are then advertising alcohol in full view in the isles at cut down prices.

Think my point is not getting across

"I wouldn´t smoke in the presence of a non smoker who objected,"

should read:

I wouldn't smoke in the presence of a non smoker"

An objection shouldn't be raised in order for the non smoker to be considered. It should be the accepted norm. Hence the government make laws to protect polite non smokers.-jl