smoking ban

[sunflower68]

Anyone got any feelings on this? I think it will be odd for a while. A bit sad for the oldsters whose only real social connection might be a pint and a fag in the pub.

Pubs are going to suffer. Surely they will now have to build smokers their own 'outhouses' complying, of course, to health and safety rules and regs.

It's a good thing for the population as a whole. How times have changed! It's not long ago I remember smoking being allowed on buses, trains and planes.

[Elfin]

Now let's save even more lives and even more NHS money by banning the sale of alcohol in pubs too.

[madein1978]

Whilst smoking is indeed a disgusting habit, the government have no right to control people in this way, If a person wants to smoke, that is their perogative, no-one has the right to tell them they can't, and if it gets on your wick like it does mine, you simply move away from them.

[AliFlump]

I think its the right thing to do, its a disgusting habit. Smoking just a couple of cigs a day can cause damage where as having a couple of drinks doesnt do you any harm.

Being able to go out and enjoy my night without havin to come home early with a sore throat and eyes and stinking will be great.

[laurence2]

Micko1962 & Madein1978, Are you to for real or what, What part of freedom to go anywhere to eat/drink without taking in cigarette smoke don't you two understand?

If you two get lung cancer due to passive smoking etc, will you expect the N.H.S to foot the bill then, theirs one of your SAVINGS

[Englishbird]

I HATE the ban coming in. I smoke, I choose to smoke and I thoroughly object to being told I can't - especially as the number of OUT DOOR area's where you can't smoke has risen.

Elfin, that's the comment I use when I'm taking the p*ss out of the ban - Leave our pubs alone, If you don't like swearing, smoking and alcohol, DON'T GO TO THE PUB. Go the coffee shop down the road.

The point should be freedom of choice - smokers should not be excluded, they should have a choice. I agree with having completely seperate areas for smoking and no smoking, but we should still be allowed that choice. And as far as pubs go, it should be the landlords discretion.

LOTS of things are bad for you, LOTS of things will kill you, but you make a personal choice what to do, it should never be made for you by the nanny state.

We'll see how much you all like it when they start banning you from the things you choose to do. It's not nice I can assure you.

[Steve_Luts]

madein1978 - what if a person doesn't want to smoke someone else's secondhand smoke? Often (if not all) of the time its not an option to distance yourself from someone. I go to pubs lots because I enjoy it. I probably drink a bit too much than is good for me (the 20 units guideline), but am not an excessively heavy drinker.

In doing that, the only person's health I am possibly endangering is my own - you are not having to consume my secondhand drink! Further, I am not spilling my drink all over your clothes so they stink of my Stella!

As Andy Hughes very rightly points out it typifies the selfish nature of our times. I'll say this again - smokers are in a minority; we live in a democracy where we go in favour of the majority. I'm just glad party politics has stayed out of it and a free vote has led to a sensible decision.

[AliFlump]

People say lots of things are bad for you, alcohol, junk food etc but only if you have them to excess. Drinking a unit or so of alcohol today is ok, having a macdonalds once a week wont hurt you but the moment you start smoking regulary whether it be 1 or 80 a day it will start to affect your health and the others around you.

I enjoy going to the pub, drinking and socialising what i object to is having something that can make me ill forced on me. Non smokers have the right to be in the pubs too.

[Englishbird]

Rubbish, having one cigarette a day will affect your health exactly the same as having one drink a day. The number of alcohol related illnesses by far match the number of smoking related illnesses. As do illnesses related to obesity.

We're just an easy target.

What is wrong with having segregated areas so that everyone still has a choice. I agree with banning smoking in restaurants, but not in pubs. Even giving the landlord the choice would mean you would have a choice of which pub you went to.

[AliFlump]

They wont do segregated areas inside the pubs because it doesnt work the smoke still drifts to other parts of the pub. Think about the workers who have to collect glasses and tidy tables. Pub work is ideal for people who have to work iregular hours. Their health shouldnt be compromised

If it were up to me (i know its not) smoking would be banned everywhere. Its a revolting habit that has absolutely no benefits.

[ludwig]

Having segregated areas where people are allowed to smoke just doesn't work.
It's like having one corner of the swimming pool where people are allowed to p1ss.

[laurence2]

Englishbird, Why don't you defy the goverment then and start running your own illegal underground smoking pub.

Your WHERE AN EASY TARGET motto is crap, Your causing health related illness's with your smoking, YOU choose to inflict your smoke on to non-smokers.

ps, Don't no if you have children but did you give up when you were pregnant ?

[madein1978]

laurence2- We all have freedoms, smokers and non smokers equally, no-one should inflict anything on anybody that they don't want, all this is one group of people shoving something up another group of people who are doing the same thing, there can't be a solution to this that everyone will be happy with. Blame Sir Walter Raleigh, its basically all his fault!!

[Englishbird]

I am a pub worker. The 'contamination' drifting through nooks and cranny's into the other areas of the pub is far less damaging than the fumes you inhale from a car that drives past you. Or the poisons that are in our city air. Industry, fuel, landfills, plastics.

If not different areas then different pubs. Pubs that serve food no smoking, pubs that don't smoking - then we all have a choice where we drink.

[madein1978]

I know all about the passive smoking thing, but its your call whether you choose to hang around in the smoky atmosphere or not, people still have choice for the moment. Its really quite arrogant to demand someone stop doing something you disagree with, I would say that if the tables were turned, you wouldn't comply!

[Englishbird]

If I walk in front of a bus, is it the buses fault for being their? I do not smoke around non smokers on purpose, I do not light up at a table of people who hate it. I am a conciderate smoker who completely understands that it must be horrible for non smokers.

However, If I'm the only person sitting in a pub and I'm smoking, and a non smoker walks in, why the hell is it down to me to put my cigarette out. A blanket ban was not the right choice.

[madein1978]

Englishbird- Please don't start on the exhaust fume thing, unless you want a science lesson from me, it dont wash!

[AliFlump]

So all non smokers should stay at home and never go to the pub because its the only place where their isnt smoke. Once again the minority rules!

[Englishbird]

NO - But by the same argument, why should smokers!!!!! There is some middle ground if anyone cared to look for it.

I'm sorry for getting irate, but I am so fed up of being slated and not being able to retaliate because I 'shouldn't' smoke anyway - so no-one listens because my opinion is considered irrelevant.

When the government starts banning something you like doing, you'll get it. I am anti-hunt and I was for the ban, but I still understand why the hunters are p*ssed off.

[laurence2]

If you walk in front of a bus it is called suicide, Thats why we have xings etc.

Englishbird, you say if someone walks in your pub why should you put your fag out, Ok if a coach load of people walk into your pub what happens then ?

Ps you did'nt answer about having children

[madein1978]

I hate fireworks, no-one racing to ban them, and I consider them to be harmful, on guy fawkes night, the air is rich with burning chemicals, no-one seems to care about the health implications there!