Although I see Globalti’s point, that we are not talking about the levels of pollution seen prior to the Clean Air Act, smoke is a pollutant. And although the levels of pollution are much lower now than 50 years ago, as a population we are a lot more susceptible to air pollution. For example, there are something like 3-5 times as many people being treated for asthma now than 20 years ago* and the increase is greatest for children.
I would also agree with the point that our noses are sensitive to sulphurous compounds that are emitted from coal more so than other pollutants like nitrogen dioxide, which are present in your local urban environment.
Unfortunately, the presence of the smoke at ground level is worst during the kind of weather patterns we are experiencing at the moment and usually get during winter; clear skies at night and light winds leading to an inversion keeping the smoke near to the ground.
I agree it’s not ideal, and I suspect if the number of active chimneys keeps increasing we might see some more stringent legislation on the types of fuel you can burn. But for us, we don’t have a mains gas supply and hence we don’t have central heating, so it is an economical option for us.
* I accept that some of this increase might be due to increased awareness and uptake of treatment, but it’s still a huge jump.