milo

yes i suppose they would be worried that the second-hand smoke will do them damage while they're drinking their liver-toxic alcohol?

Dream Weaver

I smoke, but think it should be banned full stop, make it illegal and that will help me to give up next year, but they wont do that. The gov't like their
£16 billion revenue.

Its ridiculous to sell us over priced, over taxed ciggies, then ban us from smoking them anywhere but at home - they should just make them illegal, full stop!!

Dream Weaver

You anti-smokers are hilarious I smoke, but am all for the ban.

suprabeast

I used to smoke and i have no problem with it, however... the thing that worries me is the long list of rules being set by the government trying to control everybody. Firstlyuthey don't want you to drive any where, now you can't smoke in public places.. how long before they say you can't eat fatty foods and can't drink alcohol...


where is it all gonna stop?? And what has happened to freedom of choice?

Iwan

Glad you agree

People like you are in the minority though mate, the bleaters have already been on TV this morning missing the point as usual.

Smoking (including passive) has been proven to at least cause health problems and at worse shorten someones lifespan. What i find offensive is that smokers (and i include my own parents here) seem to think it's their "right" to inflict their habit on other people.

Turning it around, what if i walked up to someone in the street and gave them a good hard kicking and put them in hospital. Then tried to use the defence "but i'm just persuing my own hobby, so what if it's seriously detrimental to the health of others". An extreme example but it's the same thing.

As a kid i was plagued with chest problems and (mis)diagnosed with Athsma (sp?), for years i had to use an inhaler. It was only when i bought my own place and moved out that i realised that my chest problems were down to my parents heavy smoking, within a couple of weeks of moving out i could breath properly for the first time in memory, and all the problems i had cleared up immediately. I now have drastically less coughs and colds throughout the year compared to before when i had a cold every 2 or 3 weeks. Its more than enough to convince me passive smoking is a bad idea, and that's the main reason i dislike going out to pubs/clubs/restaurants etd.

If this decision is implimented then it should help a lot of workers (pubs/restaurants etc.) who really need protection. Believe me i think if people do want to smoke then they should be allowed to, just not at the expense of everyone elses heath.

Senior_AP

Good it stinks.

Dracoro

Much of the lost revenue doesn't matter as much of the cost from smoking related diseases will disappear too if no-one smoked. We are however, left with a shortfall as more goes in from smoking tax than smoking related ailments cost. But given that many people will have stopped smoking, this means they have more disposable income which they will spend in other ways which adds to the economy. So the long term loss of revenue isn't too much of a problem. People will still have the same money to spend. No money goes OUT of the ecomomy, it merely changes where it gets channelled.

Brendan Hughes

Wow.

All they need to do now is ban people getting pi55ed and starting fights, and chavs, and the UK will be a nice place to live again!

paulr

Excellent news ..........

Dream Weaver

Not strictly true, as the smoking related illnesses wont just disappear, they will still be around for 10 years afterwards at least.

Ban smoking and you still have the illnesses which cost £7 billion a year, but you dont have the £16 billion tax revenue generated from ciggie sales, so we would need to find £23 billion from somewhere.

I wish they would ban smoking, but I do get slightly worried about whats happening to this country, they are starting to ban a lot of things now, how long before its illegal to drive performance cars, or anything with more than 200bhp/less than 30mpg????

If the gov't get away with banning things without much hassle from the public, then we are on a slippery slope.

Senior_AP

Toronto - no smoking but people still have big v8 gas guzzlers.

It's all good.

Dream Weaver

Canada is a much bigger place, they can get away with big guzzlers.

Motorists will be the next big target after smoking! Something relating to "why should I breath in your exhaust fumes, blah blah"

I'm all for the smoking ban as I keep saying, will help me give up.

Jap2Scrap

I'd quite like it to be made illegal to be honest. I agree with DW about the ramifications of 'freedom of choice' being eroded though. I smoke and I enjoy it (I'm certainly not one of the "oh I wish I could give up" brigade) but I do understand the health implications and I DO respect others' rights not to inhale my smoke and I don't think it would be a bad thing to stop. If it takes the incentive of breaking the law to make me want to then fine because right now I just don't feel strongly enough about stopping to want to.

I detest the attitude of non-smokers sometimes though, significantly those who are ex-smokers and therefore think they're somehow a better person. They seldom are. A better person would be more empathic - they've been there and know that it's enjoyable to smoke - WHILE IT'S WHAT YOU WANT TO DO.

I don't want to get into a right/wrong argument about it again, that's been done to death on here, but just to say not every smoker is going to "bleat" on about a ban.

Dracoro

Doubt that'll happen. There's not much hassle from the public about banning smoking (in public) because most people are all for it. Banning types of cars, or alcohol etc. would have the public up in arms. Essentially, this is a health issue, not a lifestyle banning issue. I hardly know anyone that wants to ban types of cars or alcohol etc. but I do know quite a lot that are for a smoking (in public) ban.


Get yourself a Westie like I did 190bhp, 30mpg+ and faster than 99% of cars on the road (gaz guzzling scoobs included )

Dream Weaver

Well I'm OK as well - 205 Mi16, 190bhp, 850kg, 30mpg, I was thinking more about you Scooby boys.

I never understand the attitude of "nearly everyone hates smoking" and "most people are for a ban". Maybe you blinkered city boys from down South think that (), but up North the number of smokers is much larger than none-smokers. Certainly is when I go out down town anyway or to a footie match, or the local WMC.

From all the people I know and work with I would say probably 60% of them smoke. None of my close friends do, but allthe wifes friends do, my family does, etc. Obviously thats IMO and only from what I see.

Dracoro

Then it's in your (and my) interest to have this 200+bhp ban. Cars like ours will rocket in value as loads of people are wanting their fast car thrills

Andy Hall

This nanny government are a pain in the ****, they spend all their time banning thisngs that people enjoy and do F*** all about sorting out crime, drugs etc. Theyr'e talking about banning smoking when they've just legalised smoking canabis FFS

Ok smoking's not good for you but for a lot of people it's their only pleasure in life. I stopped ****, but still enjoy going to the pub and having a pint and a cigar, I only do it maybe once a week so its not like I'm going to be a huge burden on the NHS. If a landlord wants to have a smoking room, purely for smokers, why not.

All they want to do is ban things people enjoy (or tax them higher for it, then ban it in a few years.

So what has been banned in the last few years -

Guns - some nutter who the police shouldn't have given a licence too in the first place goes nuts so ban guns, there are more illegal guns on the streets than are legally held.

Foxhunting - A load of townies making judgements over people in the country - two completely different ways of life - should they make decisions on each others behalf over things that have gone on for hundreds of years?

Motoring - Start off taxing the fuel, then put the squeezer on company car tax to make it a bit worse, then we'll put cameras all over the ruddy place so that we can fine them and then when they do that too often we can ban them so that they can use our $hite, expensive, unreliable, dangerous, untimely, out of date public transport
system which we cant invest in because we are far too busy making up stupid ******* laws to stop people doing what they enjoy.

:GRR:

Dream Weaver

Not forgetting conkers in schools

The Chief

And rightly so

Dracoro

NO THEY ARE NOT. And this seems to be the point that lot's of people a ranting about rather than the actual issue at stake. They are proposing to ban the act of smoking in covered PUBLIC places. They're not gonna stop you doing what you like in your own home or outside.

ChrisB

Who says a person in a pub is drinking alcohol?

milo

the govt regularly stops you doing what you like in your own home! lots of drugs are banned completely for example.

paulr

*Smoking to be banned in England*



..so, no setting fire to pikeys then............

Dracoro

But they weren't legal in the first place. You can't miss what you never had. You can't murder someone in your own home either, is that the govt. being 'nannying'?

kob999

Cannabis has not been legalised it has been decriminalised. Very big difference. If it were legalised then it could be sold in shops etc. All the current law means is that if you are caught in posession of a small amount then you may be let go with a caution at the discretion of the legal system. This means that if you are someone who is otherwise law abiding who indulges in smoking cannibis (a sunstance no more dangerous than tobacco) then your life will not be ruined by getting a criminal record. This I would have thought is quite the opposite of a nanny state.

As for guns they have not been banned. There is a little more red tape involved in getting one than there used to be but still can be gotten by anyone who has a legitimate reason for having one. As for illegal guns outnumbering legally held ones that may or may not be true but the situation would hardly be any better if we suddenly gave out more legally owned ones, not forgetting that quite a few of the illegal ones are from burglary on houses and the stealing of people's legally held ones.

With foxhunting saying that townies should not be allowed to have input on issues in the countryside is a bit ridiculous. We have a democraatic system which by it's very nature says that the majority decideon an issue whether they have direct input to a particular issue or not.

Senior_AP

Nobody should be forced to breathe in the vile **** that people suck through mouths, down their throats, around their lungs and back out into the atmosphere.

If you wanna be a gyp, be a gyp in your own home so people that DO give a damn about their health don't have to breathe in your crap.

Jap2Scrap

lol, ur a tosser. Hands up anyone who thinks passive or even active smoking is a good idea.

No one?

Why does Senior_AP feel the need to keep telling me that it's disgusting and bad for everyone then?

Senior_AP

I simply cannot believe the selfish attitude of some people that think smoking in public places is ok.

I can't even believe their is a debate.

Senior_AP

Don't recall telling "you" either.

It's a post on a website about Impreza's. Bare that in mind Mr. Get on your high horse.

Jap2Scrap

Get on your high horse?

Are you having a laugh? If you read back your posts related to this issue I think you'll see who's on their high horse. In fact I'm surprised you don't get a nosebleed at that height!