Some of the most famous men in history have been smokers. Churchill puffed away on noxious Cuban cigars; Eisenhower smoked himself silly during WW2; Anwar Sadat smoked a smelly pipe ---and the former South African President, and Nobel Peace Prize winner, F.W. De Klerk, smoked two packs a day. The 40's, 50's and 60's were decades when smoking was the norm rather than the exception. In the 70's,as health concerns developed (actually it was much earlier, but the anti-smoking brigade took up its banners then), after it was proved that smoking caused lung cancer and similar diseases,smoking lost its attraction and people began to drop the habit. There should , by 2005, be hardly any of us left by now, right? Wrong.
Look at these statistics (they are not exact but do reflect a situation within parameters of, say,3- 5%):
Portugal Smokers in 2005: 35% (men & women)
Egypt Smokers in 2005 35% (mostly men)
South Africa Smokers in 2005 30% (men & women)
USA Smokers in 2005 25% (men & women)
Scotland Smokers in 2005 30% (men & women)
N.Ireland Smokers in 2005 30% (men & women)
England Smokers in 2005 20% (men and women)
Netherlands Smokers in 2005 30% (men & women)
These figures are interesting for various reasons. Primarily, there are still a lot of smokers out there . Second, if all these smokers were banned from pubs, the takings might be affected quite a bit (In South Africa takings at restaurants dropped so drastically after new regulations were introduced, that most proprietors installed smoking cubicles).
"Nanny " Britain is presently revising regulations and smokers will not be allowed anywhere near a packet of crisps. I am not an expert on the economic implications of a full no-smoking ban in pubs and restaurants but I'll wager that there will still be quite a few people staying at home to smoke and less people pumping up the beer profits in the local pub. Is the time ripe for such drastic measures? Perhaps, but 20% is one fifth of a nation's population.
Simon Jenkins, a Times columnist I admire and read often (for he isa balanced, fair judge of human behaviour), wrote in last week's Sunday Times:
" There is no better place to study State intrusion on personal freedom than in a pub.Why can't I go down the road and get a drink and a smoke whenever I want, asks Joe Citizen? His friend answers: because you make a mess and a noise. You get drunk and you die of lung cancer and my taxes have to pick up the pieces. Tough, cries Joe Citizen. You do things that cost me money too, like drive, get fat and have children. You get off my back and I'll get off yours."
He continues:" Smoking with food is unpleasant to almost everyone.Legislate to avoid it . Blowing smoke in other people's faces at the bar is nasty. Discourage it. But sitting with friends over a pint and a cigarette, an experience enjoyed by millions, is hardly a Ricin attack on the nation state."
I liked this statement by Jenkins:" Smoking might be offensive and cost the NHS billions but so what? It saves billions too by killing smokers oung. Lots of things are unpleasant and unhealthy which we do not ban, from hamburgers and alcopops to jetskis and Oasis. "(ha-ha).
I smoke, do not eat a lot of junk food, walk every day and take no drugs. Why should I be an an outcast in a "Nanny State" that has thousands of Fred and Freda Blimps eating themselves to death? I can, at 60, beat any Fred Blimp up a hill and (having ten stone less around my belly), could probably outride Fred on a bicycle too! Yes, I smoke. I know it's bad for me and I avoid smoking inside my house or at parties (I stand on the balcony), but I'd like a little freedom to exercise my plainly anti-social habit.
I'm also a person on a planet. Why should people look at me as if I'm a criminal if I light up outside, away from the Blimps and faux disability recipients and old fools being rude to everyone in sight.
I'm going to smoke for another 20 yearsand don't think I'm going to feel guilty if you look at me as you leave the Jobcentre limping and with a hippo's belly . Don't even dare. Your worried eyes don't worry me, mate. You must be costing the state a fortune.
What I really would like is a quiet pub, a nice fire and a good whisky. Then I really will be Marlboro man!