India knight on smoking in times

[FluffyMummy123]

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I have given up smoking four times. Four times I lasted more than a year without cigarettes (twice whilst pregnant and breastfeeding, so well over a year on those occasions). I am an endomorph who watches every thing I eat like a hawk, yet each time I gave up smoking I put on half a stone. Now I am two stone overweight and still smoke (a little bit). If I give up smoking again and put on another half stone I will move from being overweight to obese. Its a tough call in health terms.

k, whatever, lapin.

you know, i stayed off most of today.

i see now, that's something i should starting doing a lot more often.

then she doesn't, lapin.

SO WHAT?! she's an adult.

get over it.

i'd probably stop getting pissy if folks would stop getting so ridiculously sanctimonious about so much on this board lately.

it's getting tiresome.

littlelapin

perhaps expat is getting wound up at the fact that all smokers - even the occasional ones like me, or like KatieS, who have the odd cigarette and even go without several days running - are being tarred as thoughtless stinking ignoramuses. Whereas those who sink a steady amount of alcohol but (god forbid) not in an antisocial way are not.

I don't think they should be by the way, but there has been plenty of coverage lately of these sort of people getting cirrhosis at an early age.

they probably don't say 'I don't care, I love it etc' because they are not called upon so regularly to defend themselves.

well nobody runs round giving me tea and sympathy and lots of NHS resources for my cake addiction...

Are you really saying expat that we should just patronise smokers instead by feeling sorry for them cos they can't possibly think rationally cos they're addicted?

i have every sympathy for someone who's addicted. Smoking is a bugger for that.

she's an adult with children AND she has an addiction.

whether she choses to acknowledge that or not, she's addicted to nicotine.

I too am an adult with a child.

I do not inflict my smoking on her.

I am a smoker, not an idiot.

yes you should patronise smokers, what makes your generation so exciting then

MY generation SEA? how old are you?

She is right about the number of pubs closing though (hides in a corner and cowers) and that is a lot of people without a livelihood and often with nowhere to live. Not to mention the bands, djs etc who play in the pubs where nobody goes any more, or where all the punters are outside because they want a fag...

In the Isle of Mann they had (may still have, I don't know) a license where the landlord decided whether he wanted smoking in his pub or not. If he wanted to allow smoking then he bought a license from the Local authority (or whatever they have there), which cost about £100, if he wanted to be smoke-free then he didn't get the license.

That looks more like choice to me.

Smoking aside, I hate the nanny state. I'm living in 1984 and I don't like it.

You're not supposed to say that the pubs are struggling since 'everyone knows' they are fuller than they ever were, but the industry is currently asking for tax breaks to help them stay in business

I agree with you there, barn. It's a legal activity. If the governments feels that strongly about it that they should order private businesses to ban a legal acitivity, then just show some balls and make it illegal entirely.

the thing is, everyone round here smokes. so the pavements around the pubs are chocka and - I never thouught i would notice/mind this - the air on the street bloody stinks!

i still agree with the ban but i think it should be relaxed to allow smoking venues.

expat, yes, if they weren't relying on the tax from smoking and really wanted people to stop then they would have stopped pissing around putting it up by 3p or so a time, but shoved a pack of fags up by a fiver or something. Loads of people would stop then, as it is, you just get used to paying a tiny bit more each budget.

i really don't care what you lot think about smoking anyway

There is a pub where dh has had a regular gig for a few years - every couple of months. It was always heaving, everybody having a great time, atmosphere electric, loads of people dancing etc. It breaks my heart when he comes home from it now. 90% of the people are outside in the (really good) smoking shelter and about 5 people are inside, gently tapping their toes and smiling nicely. Everyone outside is having a whale of a time and they pop in to hear the band every 10 mins or so, but it's so so so different. And a band can't get really get into gear when they're getting so little feed back. It's really depressing. I hear this story from almost every pub band I know (and I know loads). At least this pub is still viable, but only because it has a good shelter. 3 other pubs in our high street have closed in the last 6 months.

Can someone provide me with some actual evidence that pubs are going out of business please?

Rather than anecdote and speculation?

Greyriverside: Sorry, "original WHO Study" doesn't help me to understand what you are on about.

And as to "choice". In what other buisinesses do we propose that emoployers should have the choice to expose their staff to substances that cause cancer, heart disease and lung problems? Or members of the public for that matter. What next - landlords get to strip asbestos from their walls without protection while carrying on trading?

The government is not "banning a legal activity" anymore than drink-drive laws criminalise alcohol or driving a car - this is about risk to others.

Sorry Barnstaple - crossed posts.

There are lots of pressures on the licensed trade - for a start, people have less disposable income due to the credit crunch. The international evidence (from studies that use objective, verifiable data like tax returns and control for wider economic factors) is that there is no negative impact from smokefree laws.

I still don't see why pubs and clubs shouldn't be able to have the option of permitting smoking, perhaps by buyign a smoking license, displaying big signs in the windows informing people that this is a smoking venue, and expressing a preference for smokers to work there. Perhaps there could be a quota system in place ie only so many venues within an area would be allowed thelicenses. After all, religious organisations are allowed to discriminate in favour of people who share their superstitions.

agree madamez

also like the idea of smoking being reclassed as a superstition

as in 'if i have this fag i will feel more relaxed'

I'm sure there are lots of bar staff who are pissed off that they can't smoke in work.