Friday 25 January 2013

"Since The Smoking Ban...."


The other day on breakfast television I saw an item that made me feel really annoyed.  It declared that 'since the smoking ban, reported cases of childhood asthma had fallen by blah blah percent'.

No, of course I wasn't annoyed by the fall in reported cases of childhood asthma. What annoyed me was the reporting method of this information.

To accompany the spoken report, they showed a man standing outside his house, in the snow, shivering as he drank a cup of hot beverage and smoked a cigarette.  Outside his house.  

Since when did smoking in one's own home become illegal?


The purpose of this piece of film was, clearly, to influence the impressionable public to think that nasty dirty smokers should not even be allowed to smoke in their own houses.  That they should be ostracised and made to stand out in the cold.

I smoke between one and five cigarettes a day.  Since my husband gave up, I do not smoke in the house.  I would not dream of lighting up in the house of a non-smoker, or around children under ten, or in any of the places where it is no longer allowed, including open air railway platforms (ludicrous!).  But whether or not people smoke in their homes is up to them, and should continue to be so.  I think it is far more damaging for children to watch pap on television, to have access to internet porn and the soft porn of many music videos, to have unrealistic expectations about how they should look, to play violent video games, than it is to breathe in the smoke from the occasional tab, yet all these things are legal and actively promoted.

Most notably, the cases of reported childhood asthma were a lot higher in the ten years leading up to the smoking ban than they were in the 1950s and 1960s when everyone smoked, freely, everywhere.  Could this rise have been connected more with all the chemicals in the air, in the foods we eat, and in God only knows what else that we don't know about, than cigarettes?  Most smokers with children didn't smoke in the house, anyway ~ it didn't take an official ban to stop them doing so.

The other day I got ticked off by a 'jobsworth' type for smoking just outside a bus shelter, in the open air.  He told me that 'they' would have something to say if they caught me. 

Smoking is not a crime.  There are very few places left where we can enjoy a fag without having to stand out in the cold; don't try to make people feel as if they are commiting a crime by choosing to have a cigarette in the privacy of their own home - or indeed in the open air.  If I'm having a fag in a pub garden and you don't like it, go and sit somewhere else!

56 comments:

  1. Too bloody right! It's still legal, so get off my case! And I don't even smoke anymore, but I'd still defend your right to do so - in your own house, and anywhere else where it's not against the law. These people make me so cross!

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  2. Hey, Terry. I hope the rant made you feel better. Gosh. The ammount of cigs you smoke every day is hardly worth mentioning. My husband, who is now 75, started smoking in the 1950's. 60 a day when I first met him. He's trying so hard to cut down with the help of National Health. So far, it hasn't affected his health--or mine. Surely, an old man can enjoy his dwindeling years. Withdrawal symptoms are awful for him, yet he never complains.

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    1. Hi Francene, thanks for reading! I dunno, maybe he should carry on having a few a day! I find nicotine chewing gum very helpful, and my husband has those electronic cigarettes, which are marvellous.

      I remember a character in a book who was advised by his home carer to give up smoking; he said that at his age (89), it was hardly worth it...!

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  3. Couldn't agree more. When you think about the obesity rates, which lead to diabetes and what not, smokers should not be descriminated against as much as they are. I, too, have been told off for smoking near a bus stop (I was standing downwind so the few under the shelter wouldn't be inconvenienced) yet one righteous person thought it their business to tell me how I should live my life. Maybe next time I should stop that overweight person from buying their overweight child a Big Mac...

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    1. Oh, yes yes yes, Hannah, wouldn't it be great if you could! I often want to, when I see these (very) young, overweight mothers walking along, with their chubby children in their push chairs stuffing crisps...!! Thanks for reading :)

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  4. Many years ago as a child I saw adults smoking. They smoked in films, my parents smoked and on the few occasions I was allowed in a pub there was a haze from those smoking. naturally I sneaked a few cigarettes and tried it myself. I put the pilfered cigatette in my mouth and sucked in as I lit it. I think I was about nine. I blew out smoke - cool! I made with a little practice a smoke ring - impressive. Then I drew in a mouthful of smoke and inhaled it.
    My head swam, I coughed and coughed. I felt vaguely sick! There and then I made the decision I have never regretted. Nothing that nasty could be good for you and I would never use those revolting things again.

    Of course avoiding smoking did cause a few problems. It meant my friends thought I was odd. It restricted girlfriends (like kissing an ashtray) It meant I couldn't take a job in a bar. I resented the smoking areas at work - just passing through them to leave left the smell of smoke on my clothes. I was very glad when anti-smoking rules came in!

    You have a perfect right to kill yourself by smoking but there are some things you should know:
    1. You stink!
    2. People like you cause my fire insurance premiums to be higher.
    3. People like you cause health insurance to cost more.
    4. If you smoke in your house or car - I won't buy it no matter how well you clean it.

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    1. Thank you for your comments, Anonymous - I wasn't debating whether or not smoking was a good thing, though, just the right of a person to smoke in his/her own house, and the way in which the television item was encouraging people to discriminate against smokers in a nazi-like fashion, using subliminally absorbed images. And, of course, the fact that the increase in cases of childhood asthma would appear to be caused by things other than/as well as smoking.

      I'm in the UK, so I can't really comment on your health insurance, as we have the NHS here - where people are treated free for things due to the overuse of alcohol and drugs, and overeating, and risky extreme sports, as well as smoking related illnesses; in fact I believe that the smokers are discriminated against worse than the other categories of people.

      Thank you for taking the time to read this article; perhaps you might leave your name next time.

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    2. Well said Terry! That is totally correct! Smokers are beat upon by the media all the time, but how about all those other harmful things that cost our NHS a fortune! Gosh we don't say 'Don't eat that cream cake' or 'Don't go kite surfing' or 'Don't go partying' because it isn't right and people can do what they like with their lives, so long as they don't hurt other people, animals etc. So silly people who have these silly comments are just, well, silly! LOL ha ha ha We are all human and not one of us is perfect, and good on us as perfect would be boring! :-)

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    3. Oh yes and I should get to the point of your post as well - smoking in our own homes. Well, I wouldn't smoke indoors as I don't like the smell and hardly smoke any anyway, but there's no way anyone should be telling anyone else NOT to smoke in their own houses - what a liberty! Morning TV is usually full of people gabbing on about things they are not that experienced in - just having their say - so I don't take a lot of notice of it these days and work in silence LOL

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  5. Alcohol is far far more damaging than smoking, and yet people are allowed to drink to excess in their own homes, in public and in pubs. And it damages kids - if you're pregnant. And it ruins families - DD has just become part of a family where there are 2 alcoholics, so maybe I'm just riding my hobbyhorse as you are yours. Gave up smoking when I got pregnant. Made me feel sick. Not happy about the cost to the NHS of people who smoke despite knowing what it does to them and then develop lung cancer as a result - clearly not going to happen to you. Yet....

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    1. Of course people shouldn't smoke when pregnant or around pregnant women, or indeed children. Like the person who commented above, you missed the point of this article, which was not to go "Whoo hoo let's hear it for smoking tabs" but that I didn't like the way the television item was encouraging the subliminal discrimination of people who choose to smoke in the privacy of their own homes, in nazi styleee. I agree about cost to NHS - but the same could be said about those who develop problems caused by drinking, drug taking, overeating, lack of exercise and taking part in dangerous sports. Get out of that one, Hedges!

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  6. I came her from Carol's RT on twitter. Yes you should be able to smoke in your home as long as you are aware you could be damaging to other members of your family. I do not know what it's like to be addicted to cigarettes but a few months ago I wrote a blog post from the opposite point of yours. The day the government made my life better. http://cassam-isanyonethere.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-day-government-made-my-life-better.html?m=0
    I have never put a blog link on a comment thread before but I just thought you may be interested on another point of view,and I respect yours.

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    1. Anne, I would love to read that, but unfortunately it hasn't come up as a link. Perhaps you could tweet the link to me? You seem to have understood what I was saying, unlike Hedges (it's okay, we slag each other off all the time!!!!!), but it is just the way that the smoking ban has brought out every single jobsworth in the country, bristling with self-righteousness, as described in Hannah's comment, above! Thanks for reading and commenting :)

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  7. Brave of you to speak up. I caught that article, a product of narrow research. Everything in excess is harmful. What people forget is that smoking used to be a sacred activity. Remember peace pipes? A research not widely distributed established that moderate smoking has a positive effect on our metabolism, let alone nerves. Unfortunately filter cigarettes cloud a room in no time, due to chemicals that keep the sticks burning even when placed in an ashtray. That's fine in the back room of a pub or in the open air, but not in rooms that are shared with children and non-smokers. Roll-ups, on the other hand, don't keep burning unless you puff on them, and they leave little smoke. I enjoy roll-ups in my own space with plenty airing. I need my smoke to stay grounded, and I enjoy it, in moderation.

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  8. Well said Tyler! Here's a little something for smug prigs like "Anonymous". I bet he drives a car without giving a second thought to the carcinogenic filth billowing from its arsepipe.

    TABZ - All about the smoking ban.

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  9. I assume Anonymous comes from the Land that Made the World Fat (corn syrup anyone?. Yet no one would ever presume to tell anyone else they can't binge/overeat eat in public, in private or anywhere else. Same applies to alcohol, the single biggest substance that puts a burden on the NHS yet is socially acceptable.
    Smoking is still legal. Why? Governments need the revenue. Their hypocrisy on this matter - rising tobacco taxes to encourage people to 'give up' is completely disingenuous.
    If we ban smoking and demonise smokers - why not do the same for those who drink? Or overeat?
    Good post Terry.

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