Smoking ban

I’m generally against this sort of thing, but as someone that’s recently quit – I’m fully on board with this

Like most smokers, I wish I’d never started – once you do, it’s an addiction, don’t kid yourself

However, I’m also for the decriminalisation of weed so my opinions don’t really make any sense

Indeed they are. But being under the influence of tobacco means you are unlikely to run down someones kid. Cocaine in the system, thats a distinct possibility.

you’ll go absolutely nuts when you find out about alcohol..

Unsure why there is need for legislation when the numbers of people smoking falls year on year:

https://ash.org.uk/uploads/Smoking-Statistics-Fact-Sheet.pdf?v=1697728811

(page3)

Its a problem which will solve itself

Last thing. Also when the likes of Truss and Mordant are espousing the personal liberty or freedom of choice argument , it is because a Tufton Street think-tank funded by the likes of Philip Morris are paying them to say those things.

@nickc In Truss’s case there’s also a bit about building her post-PM career in the US Republican right?

Unworkable nonsense – as demonstrated by New Zealand who tried it then gave up on it when they concluded it was unworkable nonsense.

I thought NZ dropped it when the party in power changed rather than a real difficulty implementing it.  I’m not sure why it would be unworkable; some people seem to be convinced that because there is a potential for black market and some people to break the rules you should do nothing…

But I’m on the side of let them have their vices when it isn’t affecting anyone else.

Well, except for the kids of people who smoke around them.

18 year olds can buy it for their 16 year old mates.

To be fair, typical 16 year olds seem to be on the vapes rather than fags…

I thought NZ dropped it when the party in power changed rather than a real difficulty implementing it.

Correct. A new party took lead and decided to abolish to pay for tax cuts.

Unsure why there is need for legislation when the numbers of people smoking falls year on year:

Seems a better reason to bring it into effect.

“That would penalise people who are already addicted and unable to do anything about it.”

Excellent. Why pander to the needs of these people?

Tax it to the skies. Outlaw anything attempting to get round it. Throw the key away on those illegally importing the stuff.

Thousands of people, including yours truly have quit smoking. There is no unable to do it. Just a lack of will to admit addiction and want to do something about it. A ban for a certain age bracket makes no sense to me. I wasn’t allowed to smoke at thirteen. Still managed to get through ten a day, moving to twenty by aged fifteen. It’s another headline grabber with no real thought behind it. Either ban it full stop or let it naturally die out as it is doing anyway

Either ban it full stop or let it naturally die out as it is doing anyway

Indeed. Who still smokes nowadays anyway? The numbers of young people doing so are absolutely minuscule compared to previous generations.

Nobody can afford it for a start. Isn’t it now £15 for twenty fags (90% of which is tax) ? Mental! I’m bloody glad I packed in my 20 B&H a day a long time ago

This all just seems like pointless posturing though,  which will be completely unenforceable, but then that’s this lot all over.

I bet you could come back in 20 years and not a single person will have been prosecuted under this daft new law. A waste of everyone’s time but as this thread demonstrates, it seems to have hit a chord with the more sanctimonious and hectoring, so probably a result for Rishi

There is no unable to do it. Just a lack of will to admit addiction

Yeah you don’t know much about psychology.

Nobody can afford it for a start. Isn’t it now £15 for twenty fags

Bloody hell! Last time I bought a pack of 20 Regal I think they were about £3. How does anybody afford £15!

I bet you could come back in 20 years and not a single person will have been prosecuted under this daft new law.

I hope the implementation is that successful. Fewer people starting smoking without the need for any prosecutions? That’ll be the best possible outcome.

I bet you could come back in 20 years and not a single person will have been prosecuted under this daft new law. A waste of everyone’s time

Do we only make new laws that we expect people to break and be prosecuted for?  That seems odd.  Surely an ideal law is one which has a 100% compliance, and the next best thing is one that have 98% compliance even if the 2% don’t get punished?  Its not like the corner shops, super markets or petrol stations are going to voluntarily get some ethics and stop flogging addiction sticks to 18yr olds without something to push them in the right direction.  It might even send a message to those peddling vapes to teenagers that if they can’t get their house in order they will be regulated out too.

but as this thread demonstrates, it seems to have hit a chord with the more sanctimonious and hectoring, so probably a result for Rishi

Except the core tory vote are more typically the “how dare they” camp and this is a cross party initiative to get the votes so the other parties can equally claim to be behind it if its a success.  I’m surprised Rishi is doing it – he must want to leave some lasting legacy.  Either that or his mates have hedged the big tobacco firms and need a shareprice hit!

Yeah you don’t know much about psychology.

Considering I used to smoke in excess of 20 a day plus jazz woodbines and I no longer do either, psychology can piss off 😂 also not a proper science 😉

You have to want to quit. If you don’t you’re **** before you begin.

I hope the implementation is that successful. Fewer people starting smoking without the need for any prosecutions? That’ll be the best possible outcome.

I’m sure they’ll take the credit for a massive reduction in smoking, when it’s just because everyone is vaping instead anyway

Its like when the police made a big thing about taking the credit for a drop in football hooliganism in the early 90’s when everyone knew it was an influx of industrial quantities of weapons grade MDMA from Holland that was responsible for it

Nobody could be arsed fighting because everyone was off their tits on ecstasy and more likely to give you a big sweaty hug than punch you. Same as nobody is paying 15 quid for 20 Regal when disposable vapes are a quid a pop

Totally pointless bollocks

I still smoke.  50grams (£31.50) of hand rolling tobacco will last me a month. (0ccassionally pipe smoking)

As long as I can still smoke, they can ban the younger generation from smoking as much as they like.

I have no objection nor do I support the ban.  Their health and body so do as they like.

However, I would like to ban all processed food because I can cook from scratch so there you go.

Another thing that is overlooked is the artificial sweetener.  Ban that!

Cocaine is banned, and use can end in a jail sentence, but cigs aren’t. Both are hugely addictive and terrible for your health.

If this passes with the new STW trope be smoke and hookers?

Let’s just ban ****ing everything, shall we? 🙄

Anyway… I see it’s gone through with a collective shrug, some cabinet ministers voting against it, general apathy, some unhinged speeches from Liz Truss and Co and zero enthusiasm for ‘Rishi’s Big Idea’ from anyone

Meh…

I’ll support it the day it’s coupled with a similar restriction on the sale of alcohol. Now that smoking is not allowed indoors alcohol is far more dangerous to non-drinkers than smoking is to non-smokers.

This will never happen as banning alcohol is a vote loser, while banning smoking is a vote winner.

“Last time I bought a pack of 20 Regal I think they were about £3.”

Snap.

Also a late 90s quitter then?

£16 for 20 is nucking futs.

Actually I want an outright ban with prosecutions. I want to live in a world where underground smoking clubs are a thing. Trench coats, secret handshakes, running from the fuzz for a brief period before your lungs pack in. I’d start smoking again just for the thrill of it!

What does a pack of 10 Benson’s and some king skins cost these days? Come to think of it, has soap bar gone up in price along with inflation?

alcohol is far more dangerous to non-drinkers than smoking is to non-smokers.

Passive drinking?

Actually I want an outright ban with prosecutions. I want to live in a world where underground smoking clubs are a thing. Trench coats, secret handshakes, running from the fuzz for a brief period before your lungs pack in. I’d start smoking again just for the thrill of it!

Having to sneak in through a secret door disguised as a public telephone…

alcohol is far more dangerous to non-drinkers than smoking is to non-smokers.

How does that work?

I’d happily see a reduction in alcohol too, yes very hypocritical of me, but it’s not a great thing to get into.

Retired colleague took up wine drinking happily (3 to 4 bottles a week because life is good), until one day his GP told him if he continued to drink happily as he did, he would not be able to enjoy his retirement or use up his pension.  LOL!   Since then he cut his wine enjoyment down to one bottle a month.

Everything in moderation is the key including processed food.

alcohol is far more dangerous to non-drinkers than smoking is to non-smokers.

Is probably a pretty fair comment.

For the sluggish of thinking if you tweaked that to “the consumption of alcohol by others is far more dangerous to non-drinkers than the smoking of tobacco by others is to non-smokers”, they’d probably be with you.

How does that work?

fuels a huge amount of (violent) crime, assaults on emergency workers, etc etc.

I’m not in favour of an outright alcohol ban, but certainly a drinking licence, so you have to prove you can handle it and not turn into a complete nob head after a few 😂

“How does that work?”

Drink driving. Glass on the streets from bottles dropped by drunks. Avoiding certain areas of town at certain times as there is regularly potential trouble. Being violently attacked by drunks in the street (it’s happened to me). domestic violence, often set off by alcohol.

There are plenty of other downsides of alcohol that are not immediately dangerous. Noise after closing time. Vomit on the streets. People pissing in the street after closing time. Covering for a colleague who had a ‘few too many’ on numerous occasions. That feeling you get when walking home alone after 11 when you see and hear a group of ‘lads’.

Don’t get me wrong I have no desire to ban alcohol, but I’d get rid of it before smoking which doesn’t bother me in the slightest. I’ve travelled a lot, and I’ve felt safest after dark in Muslim countries where drinking is rare (and smoking is common).

Batshoot crazy idea to ban part of the population. Never smoked nor took drugs, but that’s nuts.

As for youngsters that smoke, they vape or smoke weed – weed is massively on the increase – smell it all the time, more so than ciggy smoke.

Vaping isn’t good either, but it’s “cooler/on trend” than smoking and smells less. I still think it affects lungs adversely, given how many coughs my son gets (vapes, as do his mates). That’s expensive too.

Those are examples of the effects of alcohol, they don’t represent non drinkers being more at risk.

Whatever.

Be careful what you wish for…

If you curtail the ability of Baz and Tommo to drink 20 pints of Fosters before kicking the ****out of each other outside a kebab house at 3am, the entire of British society would implode

Those are examples of the effects of alcohol, they don’t represent non drinkers being more at risk

you’ve got that completely arse about face – being punched in the face by a drunken **** isn’t an “effect of alcohol” 🙄

Those are examples of the effects of alcohol, they don’t represent non drinkers being more at risk.

You are just being deliberately obtuse. Drinking by a third party is more likely to do me harm than smoking by a third party is, is  a pretty reasonable assumption. And I am a drinker, not a smoker.

Alcohol is a bit like food though – plenty of us are able to drink alcohol and eat food without it either doing us long term harm or becoming addictive (well, if you were to be a pedant I am technically addicted to food, just not it’s over consumption). Much harder to make the same case with tobacco though. It would be a much tougher call to ban something the majority of the population can handle with relative ease so society can all walk at the pace of the slowest.

You are just being deliberately obtuse. Drinking by a third party is more likely to do me harm than smoking by a third party is, is  a pretty reasonable assumption. And I am a drinker, not a smoker.

No, I’m not. Does alcohol have more social problems than smoking? Yes. Does it matter if the other people drinks or not? No.

you’ve got that completely arse about face – being punched in the face by a drunken **** isn’t an “effect of alcohol”

If they punched you because they were drunk what would be the cause?

What I’m taking away from all this is let’s start from scratch, ban everything and then introduce LSD, Peyote and Mescaline as the only legal choices. Let’s turn the UK in to a psychedelic nation.

You can actually get high off nutmeg.

Got a sore throat. Shit.

I know we are having a debate about it, but the fact that this bill has been passed without a huge amount of hoo-hah is a demonstration of how the habit of smoking is dying out pretty quickly.. I don’t think the ban is a bad idea however because it provides a bit of impetus.