Best news in ages! Smoking Ban Date set!

[JPreston]

Which is somewhat hypocritical of Mr. Blair and his friends.

So go to the Houses of Parliament bar for a smoke then

Hypocritical yes but utterly irrelevant for how this legislation will affect the rest of us, and hence our views on it.

[Ben_]

personally i think its good, if not great. i smoke way more when drinking and whenever i try to quit going to the pub is when its hardest to resist. if you cant smoke this should disappear, and i might even make some new friends having a ciggy outside!

[Moby-Dick]

i might even make some new friends having a ciggy outside!

This was a distinct social phenomena in Dublin , it even got its own local slang term..."Smirting" ( Smoking + Flirting ) as all the smokers huddled outside.

[5lab]

lots of you have missed the point of the law. its soley to protect those people who have to WORK in a smoke filled environment. no-one (at a government level) has suggested banning smoking all together, and it has been prooved numerous times that banning alcohol doesnt work (see prohibition in the states). if you work somewhere where people drink alot, sure theres a slim chance you'll get a pintglass thrown at you, but there's also that chance if you work in a alcohol free resteraunt. basically the risks to your health from the alcohol being consumed around you are slim to none. however, the long term effects of staying in a smokey environment for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week are very well documented - lots of people have suffered slow painful deaths as a result (roy castle anyone?).

you can never ban everything that causes deaths, neither can you control people's actions, but you can try and protect people who have to work anywhere, and i don't think many people will disagree with that.

as for the comment about social smoking when drinking - if no-one is smoking around you, will this still be the case?? could be that this inadvertently causes lots of people to give up just because they never feel the 'need'...

[Bazzlad]

A few points:

While non-smokers have no control over brething in the fumes of smokers, the victims of drunk-driving or drink-induced violence have no control over their fate.

This is such a silly comparison, Smoking and alcohol are completely different.
EVERY SINGLE time I go out I'm being affected by smokers, however, I in my life have been affected by drink induced violence once.

With alcohol, there's the occasional idiot but the majority are fine. With smoking it doesn't matter, it affects me either way. The area I'm from had a lot of problems with alcohol and people, but they've been solved with common sense. Staggered kick out times, refusal of service and ejection from the premises of anyone who appears to be heavily drunk.

tobacco has been around in the UK since Elizabethan times ( thats the first Elizabeth , not the current one )

Really? well alcoholic beverages have been widely consumed since prehistoric times by people around the world.

chemically induced: alcahol isn't a chemical is it ?

Water makes up 90-95% of beer. The other 6 or so NATURAL ingredients are found here:
http://www.beertown.org/education/ingredients.html

Compare that to the 599 additives in cigarettes.
http://quitsmoking.about.com/cs/nico...ngredients.htm

revenue increasing : remind me again what the UK tax on alcahol and petrol is ? thats an utterly irrelevent point.

No it's not. Compare alcohol tax to Cigarette tax and compare. If it wasn't for the huge profit, knowing what we know now, fags would be banned.

Finally, classic:

he's still young so thinks drinking with mates is what life is all about

I'm 22 and an Ale drinker. So shhh spelling queen.

[Bazzlad]

lots of you have missed the point of the law. its soley to protect those people who have to WORK in a smoke filled environment. no-one (at a government level) has suggested banning smoking all together, and it has been prooved numerous times that banning alcohol doesnt work (see prohibition in the states). if you work somewhere where people drink alot, sure theres a slim chance you'll get a pintglass thrown at you, but there's also that chance if you work in a alcohol free resteraunt. basically the risks to your health from the alcohol being consumed around you are slim to none. however, the long term effects of staying in a smokey environment for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week are very well documented - lots of people have suffered slow painful deaths as a result (roy castle anyone?).

you can never ban everything that causes deaths, neither can you control people's actions, but you can try and protect people who have to work anywhere, and i don't think many people will disagree with that.

as for the comment about social smoking when drinking - if no-one is smoking around you, will this still be the case?? could be that this inadvertently causes lots of people to give up just because they never feel the 'need'...

Amen to that. A very sensible post.

[Moby-Dick]

Tobacco is still a plant
it may well supprise you , but Beer is not the only form of Alcahol on the market so I dont really see what you are trying to get at. There are addtive free cigarettes available.

If the effects of alcaholic drinks where only recently discovered , they'd be just as illegal. The arguement of we've been doing it for ages hasn't held much water for a number of other issues in the press recently , so why should it for beer being the 'cornerstone of our culture'

ah yes the sunburnt , lager swilling football hooligan. such a great british cultural icon. Must remeber to try and perpetuate that one

will you be willing to pay more in tax to make up the for the loss of government revenue when everyone gives up smoking and switches to your ale drinking utopia ?

[MadduckUK]

why would i want to smoke additive free ciggies? that would be like drinking kalibre all the time

[Mike Fishcake]

How about this for a sensible idea?

Smoking pubs for smokers and non smoking pubs for non-smokers.

Basically in a smoking pub there is no room for non-smokers therefore if they choose to go in they cannot moan about inhailing second hand smoke. Give people the choice of one or the other but not halfway houses.

And if you mention what about the staff etc etc Make sure people who don't mind only work there.

Personally I can see this as what is going to happen. The ban is on public places, there is nothing to stop someone setting up a private members only bar which allows smoking.

How is that different to what we have now? There are smoking pubs, there are non-smoking pubs.

[Clunk]

Im for a ban, smoking is crap, smokers that smoke in public places are inconsiderate and deserve a nicely cupped eggy fart.

p.s. Can you tell Im and ex smoker?

[Moby-Dick]

why would i want to smoke additive free ciggies? that would be like drinking kalibre all the time

they only have pure tobacco , ie there are no extra chemicals in them.

http://www.nascigs.com/ - American Sprit are one such brand

[Merlin4458]

so happy about this. I can go into a pub come out and not have to have a shower change shirt and put a clean pair of jeans on...

[ACiD303]

Just wait till you actually smell all the crap the smoke masks in clubs.

Our ban in March has been alright, I ended up taking smoking again during this time, and I don't mind going outside. In restaurants it is noticeable in a very pleasant way. In pubs, and clubs especially, you can only smell the stench of smelly scotsmen and flatulence!

[Steven W]

They've obviously never visited some of the back street pubs in Walsall where most people smoke, including the landlords. The chances of this happening in every pub in my area is slim.

I'm a smoker, but I don't mind the ban too much. It is filthy, I hate it and perhaps now I'll give up. I went to Edinburgh recently and people just went outside for a ciggie, it was no big deal (actually quite social, a great way to pick up chicks).

However, going to the pub for a quiet drink is far more risk to my immediate life than smoking. The amount of times I've had to make a sharp exit because of fighting is ridiculous or on the way home having to have eyes in the back of my head because people who are aggressively drunk.

I'd rather walk into a place with loads of people smoking dope than walk into a pub full of boozers any day of the week. I think they should still allow people to set up smoker's only clubs and I can't see what the problem is with it.

[Ben_]

you do live in walsall tho mate!

no offense intended but i think you know what i mean

[jonnyniner]

I'd rather walk into a place with loads of people smoking dope than walk into a pub full of boozers any day of the week. I think they should still allow people to set up smoker's only clubs and I can't see what the problem is with it.

As a non-smoker, and anti-smoking at that, this is what they should have done. It would have a few issues to address, but on the whole, most would be happy with this, I think...