From next summer, smoking will be banned in public places like pubs and so on. As a non-smoker - who was so widely concerned about his Dad's smoking as a kid that he (Dad, that is) quit - who has to put up with several puffers at work, and who avoids pubs for that reason (other reasons, but that's the main one), I can't say this is a bad thing; those smokers who whine about it being an imposition of their civil rights should have a word with people in Guantanamo Bay or those who used to live under N. Ceacescu or S. Hussein and get some fucking perspective. And while movies make killing seem stylish (I hate the word "c-o-o-l") the way they used to make smoking seem stylish, the difference is that killing is frowned on in real life. For the most part, anyway.
Whereas there is no chance of smoking ever being banned for good; as a caller to a radio programme blaring out now said, it's all about "M-O-N-E-Y" - taxes aside, the tobacco industry is so rich that they'll never let anything stop them selling something that does no good and a lot of pain. When will people learn that it's not just weapons that are fatal?
Still, roll on next summer. And increase my exposure to passive smoking.
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