Smoking Ban......total?

I don't think we can really go that far just because this particular noxious substance is still in such pervasive use and is so addictive.

I do think we should look closely at what is done to stop kids starting smoking . The approach here appears to me to be lily livered considering that the vast majority of smokers start under age .

In my opinion, Cigarettes should be licensed like alcohol, the age to buy raised to 18, selling cigarettes to minors converted to a strict liability offence with a defence that the minor produced recognised photographic ID that made it reasonable for the seller to believe he/she was over 18 , make it an offence to supply cigarettes to minors as distinct from selling them .

One very good thing is that the services provided to smokers to help them quit , which as nicotine is thought to be more addictive than heroin is so hard, have improved significantly in recent years.
 
Of the 10.000, maybe 20,000 people I have come across in the aforementioned dens of iniquity not a single one, I repeat, not one has ever complained within my earshot of a sore throat or irritable nose because of smoke fumes. Lots have put forward the stinging eyes and I can see that one. Lots of smokers have put forward the sore throat from smoking so I accept that. But sore throat and nose irritation from being near to cigarette smoke? Absolute shite.
However, I don't deny anyone the right to say that they suffer in this way but I don't have to either inhale or swallow such a statement. It would make me vomit.
As would smoking, by the way.
 
It's an emotive subject for me because I watched my two most beloved grandparents kill themselves with cigarettes. Today is the 11th anniversary of the day I stood in a hospital and watched my nan suffocate with severe emphasemia. She'd already watched my grandad die after two heart attacks yet still hadn't been able to stop smoking. She was only 64. For all those kids who will light up for the first time today, I wish they could've been in that room and watched her die too.
 
Evidently, they can still smoke in the House of Commons though, and you can only guess the reasons why they wanted smoking in "Private Clubs" to continue. B)

I was brought up in a pub as a child, so I am sure if my lungs were going to be damaged it was probably then. There was nothing but a loose curtain dividing the living quarters and the actual "tap room" and you couldn't see the customers faces due to the pipe smoke, cigar smoke and cigarette smoke. It's probably what put me off smoking for life.

My Dad had major open heart operation due to his smoking, and my Mum almost certainly died at a premature age due to her smoking, so I can't help but feel pleased about the ban for my own personal reasons. Everyone has their "rights" but smoking is one area where I feel that non smokers do suffer due to the "rights" of those that choose to smoke. I wouldn't necessarily agree to a total ban, and I agree with Ardross that more should be done to educate the children into the effects of taking up smoking at such a young age. It's not big, and it's certainly not clever when you are only 11-12 years old.

I cannot stand the smell of smoke and have been known to wash my hair before going to bed just because the smell makes me feel quite sick. I always ask for a non smoking room when we go to stay in a hotel, and if anyone is smoking in the room below, I can smell it, and I will asked to be moved. Petty it may seem, but it really does make me feel quite ill.
 
Colin - I've never remotely demanded anyone give up smoking! I have ashtrays in my flat for those who want to light up, as well as matches and the odd stray lighter. I EVEN USED TO KEEP CIGARETTES HANDY, for those who had run out and became demented without them. I stopped when whatever brand I had 'wasn't theirs'. I never make people 'go outside', like my cousin does, if they want to smoke in her home. Bloody hell - aren't people really judgmental, without knowing the facts, about people on here? I'm a liar, and I'm a despot for demanding smokers give up their chosen habit. No, I'm not, gentlemen, either of those. I REMOVE MYSELF from wherever gets too much for me - I don't ask smokers to bugger off.

DIVER, you were in places where smoking is endemic. My mother's smoked all her life and of course, she's never had a sore throat, irritated nose, or runny eyes from the habit. Smokers don't suffer these minor irritations, as their systems have had muck poured into them for decades. What she DOES have is lousy circulation and emphysema, but unlike her brothers who died of smoking-related throat cancer and a decade of crippling emphysema (leading to a final heart attack), she's outlived them by some 30 years. Her nurses have also said that her near-blindness could be due to having continued to smoke for so long, as we all know that the habit closes down small blood vessels. I have NO idea if this is true, but I know that smoking has damaged her health, and - naturally - has affected my life, as a result.

To me, I couldn't care less if people smoke, take drugs, drink too much or drive too fast. What is distressing about these addictive traits is the effect on their families, to which smokers are blind, and uncaring. My cousin watched her father hoik his guts up every morning for years, spewing up muck, before throat cancer killed him when she was just 13. She dreadfully missed his presence through her teens, getting married without a Dad at her side, and presenting him with grandchildren. My other uncle imprisoned both himself and his non-smoking wife, as his carer, in their flat, thanks to his decade of emphysema. He spent the last couple of years with an oxygen tank next to his bed, unable to walk from the bedroom to the sitting-room next door. They enjoyed their fags, they loved their habit, and it spoiled the lives of the people who loved them. That's what I find trashy about smoking.
 
I smoke, and think its a good move, as it might help me cut down as i smoke far to much when i drink and always have a sore throat the morning after a session. Although it probably wont stop me going outside for a puff.
 
I'm sorry, Pro, but according to DIVER you're a liar! He says he's known 20,000 people who smoke (one hell of an addressbook) and none of them have ever complained of having a sore throat.

DINGGG! Seconds out! Round 5,863!
 
I agree that if someone wants to smoke that they be allowed to do so and this bill does not deny them that right, what smokers seem to want is the right to smoke whenever and wherever they want, that cannot be right.

I remember being late to check in for a flight and the only seats that were available were in the smoking section, I had to endure that for 12 hours and am still recovering !

Whenever I check into hotels abroad, they usually smell of stale fag smoke long after the smoker has checked out, anyone stayed at a pub B & B and ate their breakfast with that awful stagnant stale smell ? I have had to, too many times.

What I can never understand is, with all the constant media coverage re the adverse effects that smoking has on ones health, why do people want to start smoking ?
 
What I can never understand is, with all the constant media coverage re the adverse effects that smoking has on ones health, why do people want to start smoking ?
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Thing is m8, the same can be said for drinking.
 
The only good thing about drinking is that there's no such thing as passive drinking. Or passive coke, for that matter.
 
Originally posted by krizon@Feb 15 2006, 10:46 AM
The only good thing about drinking is that there's no such thing as passive drinking. Or passive coke, for that matter.
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Maybe not but, there is violence, abuse and other things associated with it.
 
Originally posted by krizon@Feb 15 2006, 11:46 AM
The only good thing about drinking is that there's no such thing as passive drinking. Or passive coke, for that matter.
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I can think of lots of other good things about drinking.

The taste
The craic
The way it can heal the pain
The way it makes the opposite sex seem more attractive and more attainable
 
Oh, don't worry, Bar, drinking's fine! I think we're talking about bingeing and its anti-social fallout. The result of which is far too often the last sentence of your list... :o - "Omigod! I slept with THAT?"
 
Krizon, You are being naughty and are misquoting me repeatedly. I have never inferred that smokers don't get sore throats or stinging eyes, in fact I actually state that I've known a lot who suffer. What I am crowing on about is the statement that one can get a sore throat and/or irritable nose from being near cigarette fumes. There is a very clear difference. I quote:
"But sore throat and nose irritation from being near to cigarette smoke? Absolute shite.
I stick by that statement but disown the others you attribute to me.
 
Diver, just because YOU are not irratated in any way by smoke doesn't mean other people are not too.
 
"Sure, but the only people starting cars up in enclosed spaces are in the process of committing suicide"

And that isn't bizarre?
 
I get a sore throat if I have to endure being in a smoky environment for too long.Apart from also having to endure stinky clothes and hair afterwards as well.
I think it's a pity it hasn't been banned in all public places. Having to put up with someone near you in an open space is almost as bad, and as for some Oik letting their cigar ash drop in the hood of my coat at Cheltenham...'Oh I'm so sorry'. ' What, don't tell me - you couldn't see me standing 6 inches in front of you, you ignorant s***!' :angy:
 
Originally posted by DIVER@Feb 15 2006, 01:44 PM
"Sure, but the only people starting cars up in enclosed spaces are in the process of committing suicide"

And that isn't bizarre?
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Nope, that's just a (poor) attempt at reductio ad absurdum, but at least I still made the point that there's no real analogy between cigarette smoke and car fumes within the context of this ban.

Which is a lot better than being plain wrong.
 
The law is being implemented not to legislate against smokers.

It's health and safety at work legislation to protect bar workers!

.........pissing smokers off is just a bonus :angy:
 
From the Racing Post:

Workplace ban delights betting staff

by Graham Green


BETTING shop staff and bookmakers have welcomed Tuesday night’s historic House of Commons vote that will ban smoking in the workplace from next year.
Community, the trade union campaigning to improve standards and working conditions in the betting industry, was also celebrating after lobbying MPs to support the move.

Coral spokesman, Dave Stevens, said: “What this legislation does introduce is the final nail in the coffin of the out-dated image of betting shops being smokey dens of iniquity.”

Whileclearly addressing the health concerns of employees, the major chains are also confident the ban will not have a detrimental impact on business judged on the evidence from Ireland where the blanket prohibition of smoking in betting shops is already in place and, according to Ladbrokes spokesman Robin Hutchinson, has not affected the company’s trading levels.

There is also relief that smokers - who in the most recent Ladbrokes survey accounted for around 55 per cent of its customers - will not be tempted to bet with a competitor as the ban applies across the board.

With Scotland set to embrace the same smoke-free policy next month, bookmakers can monitor its operation before England falls into line with the rest of the United Kingdom in summer 2007.

Reigning Betting Shop Manager of the Year, Shaun Holden, who runs a Totesport shop in London’s Elephant & Castle and a 10-15 cigarettes-a-day man, said: “I agree with the ban because it’s not good for me to smoke, it’s not good for other people to breathsmoke, and I will probably try to give up now. It will certainly make the betting shop a nicer environment to work in.

“Most people who come in smoke and they will probably complain, but I don’t think it will really affect business because it’s not as if they will be able to smoke at another bookmaker’s.”

Hutchinson, who revealed Ladbrokes spends over £1 million a year ventilating shops to combat smoking said: “Since January last year there has been a ban on smoking in betting shops in Ireland and from a trading perspective, it has had no affect on us whatsoever, so there is no reason to believe it would in the rest of Britain.”

Stevens commented: “Without exception the ban is going to be welcomed by our staff and I am sure a majority of customers will also welcome it. We have actually carried out trials in certain shops across the country introducing a no-smoking rule, and what that proved is there was certainly no negative impact on trade and at that time it wasn’t a level playing field because apunter could still smoke at a shop round the corner. Who knows, the ban could even encourage people to go into betting shops who wouldn’t have done in the past.”

Community head of communications, Ken Penton, commented: “As a union, we have a policy against smoking in the workplace, and in advance of Tuesday’s vote we lobbied MPs, asking them to vote in favour of the ban for the benefit of both employees and customers, and so naturally we are very pleased with the result.”


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Originally posted by Bar the Bull+Feb 15 2006, 11:50 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Bar the Bull @ Feb 15 2006, 11:50 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-krizon@Feb 15 2006, 11:46 AM
The only good thing about drinking is that there's no such thing as passive drinking. Or passive coke, for that matter.
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I can think of lots of other good things about drinking.

The taste
The craic
The way it can heal the pain
The way it makes the opposite sex seem more attractive and more attainable [/b][/quote]
What about:

When some pissed up twat glasses you for looking at his girlfriend.
When a drunk gets home a beats up the missus.
When a drunk throws up in your cab/bus/train.
When a group of drunks hurl abuse at you for doing your job.


All acceptable, because the majority of people drink.
 
I was being cynical Brian. It just baffles me that smokers are constantly being targetted and attacked whilst drinking and drinkers are let off scot free, indeed with 24 hour opening hours they are being encouraged to carry on feeding their habit.
 
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