The smoking ban

What do you think about the smoking ban? Has it been a success? Has it had a bad effect on life? Should the ban be taken further to include our homes? Or should it be scrapped and people left to make their own choices?

I have to admit that I was quite lucky, in a way, regarding the smoking ban, in that I became confined to a wheelchair just as the smoking ban came into effect, so it hasn’t really effected me very much as I don’t go anywhere for it to effect me.

If they do extend the ban to cover us in our own homes, I will sure as Hell ignore it! I live alone, so I will continue to smoke my lungs out, no matter what they say about it.

I am actually really surprised that they made the ban as far reaching as they did. I would have thought that the tobacco lobbyists would have prevented them from going that far, but something must have happened to upset them. Especially given the fact that a certain well known MP is on the board of British American Tobacco.

I am really quite ambivalent about the ban in general. I don’t care whether it is kept or not (mind you, seeing as I’m pretty much housebound, it doesn’t really effect me too much in practice). But even if I were out, I never really smoked in shops or in bus shelters anyway. And I can’t get into the normal pubs I used to use (because of getting the wheelchair up and down the stairs), so it doesn’t really effect me in not being able to smoke in the pub.

I do think that it’s damaged the pub industry though. So many customers seem to have stayed away from pubs since the ban came into force, staying at home while they can still smoke while they drink. It is a little ridiculous banning smoking from pubs, it’s been such an integral part of the experience since tobacco came to this country. At some point, I expect the pub industry to get fed up of losing so much money and start nagging the government to reverse the ban.

I do regret that it has happened because it has made those anti-smokers become even more smug than they were already. I am more than aware of the damage that smoking does to me and I am quite happy to do it to myself.

As for people who moan about passive smoking, I have a set response for them… “You give up driving your car and I’ll stop smoking, because I am sure that your driving a car is pumping many times more pollutants into my lungs than the smoke from my cigarette does into yours”.

As a smoker, I can honestly say I totally agree with the ban. It is my choice to smoke and I don't see why non smokers should have my bad habit inflicted on them. Also walking in a public house now is such a better environment. I have also noticed that having to go outside to smoke , you talk to people you never would have previously and find out much more about different classes of people.
The only offputting thing about it is the smells you can now smell that smoking masked eg. body odour, sweat and gasses. It is soo much stronger since smoking was banned but what can we do about a persons personal hygiene

i havent really noticed much of a difference 2b honest, even b4 the ban there were precious few indoor places where u could smoke anyway. it has meant iv smoked less when iv gone out of an evening, but apart from that iv found it largely ineffectual. as for extending the ban to the house, i think that would b 2 invasive, if a person wants to hav a smoke in their own house or garden then i think they hav every right to

I think it's a shame that there wasn't more opposition to the ban. Imagine if the Conservative government in the '80s had tried to enforce it - they would never have got away with it! Sadly, these days, people seem happy to have their liberties taken away from them, especially if it's in the guise of 'security' (e.g. ID cards, CCTV cameras) or 'health' (as with the smoking ban). What's wrong with having licensed smoking pubs and non-smoking pubs, for example? That way, people would have the choice of whether or not to go to a smoky environment.
By the way, does anyone know if it's true that the bar in the Houses of Parliament is excempt from the ban?