Smokers treated ‘like outsiders’ (From York Press)
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Smokers treated ‘like outsiders’
9:20am Wednesday 29th February 2012 in News
By Richard Catton, richard.catton@thepress.co.uk
Laura Woodley, who has been smoking since she was 14
SMOKERS are being stigmatised and increasingly viewed as “outsiders” who damage public health, according to a report from the University of York.
Professor Hilary Graham, author of Smoking, Stigma And Social Class, says that poorer communities in particular, where smokers are traditionally found in higher numbers, are increasingly subject to public vilification because of the way smoking has been portrayed in health campaigns over the years.
She has now called for a rethink on how smoking is portrayed and for the focus to be on education rather than vilification.
Professor Graham said: “It is generally accepted that tobacco control policies can use stigma if they achieve their objective of protecting people’s health.
“But there is evidence that these policies have also served to intensify public vilification of disadvantaged groups where smoking rates tend to be highest.”
She suggests that the public now relates smokers to characters such as Frank Gallagher, from the popular television series Shameless, who is portrayed as an idle, working class scruff, famous for his trademark cigarette, grubby clothes and lank hair.
“Research suggests that smoking has become shorthand for class-related disadvantage.
“In Australia, the public and the media associate smoking with unemployment, low economic status and low educational achievement; whilst a Canadian study suggested that smokers and non-smokers alike saw smokers as ‘dirty’, ‘inconsiderate’ and ‘weak-willed’.”
Professor Graham said more thought must be given to the consequences of raising the level of stigma attached to smoking.
She said: “Conveying the message that smokers are outsiders who threaten public health will do little to reduce class prejudice and promote social cohesiveness.”
‘People look down on us’
LAURA Woodley, 22, from York, has been smoking since the age of 14, a habit she started after growing up in a pub.
She agreed that smoking came with its health risks, but said vilification was not the way to make people give up.
“You do get filthy looks,” she said.
“Women with prams will look at you, but it’s not like I’m blowing smoke in their kid’s faces.
“There’s talk of them bringing bans in to pub beer gardens now and that’s going too far.
“But the bans are educational in a way.
“The Government has a responsibility to make smoking look bad, but at the same time smoking is a personal choice and I think they have gone as far as they need to go with it. The fact that it’s bad for you is no secret.
“People look down on smokers and I think it’s this thing about them affecting other’s health – however negligible that risk might be.”
Comments(76)
groble
says...
10:08am Wed 29 Feb 12
newscritic
says...
10:13am Wed 29 Feb 12
groble wrote:Because the Treasury receives £11 billion tax annually (rising every year) from smokers?
I think they should just hurry up and make it illegal. it's no different from any other drug with damaging health effects, so why's it not already illegal?
magicadey
says...
10:23am Wed 29 Feb 12
Well they are..
magicadey
says...
10:25am Wed 29 Feb 12
York-10
says...
10:28am Wed 29 Feb 12
newscritic
says...
10:34am Wed 29 Feb 12
bloodaxe
says...
11:13am Wed 29 Feb 12
Amoco Caditz
says...
11:14am Wed 29 Feb 12
10:34am Wed 29 Feb 12
If nobody smoked where would the Treasury find the £11 billion tax they pay each year?'
even more on fuel duty... as usual!
monkeyhanger
says...
11:36am Wed 29 Feb 12
hifive
says...
11:59am Wed 29 Feb 12
newscritic
says...
12:03pm Wed 29 Feb 12
hifive wrote:Only problem I have with smokers is that smokers pollute the clean air and others lungs too with 4,000 chemicals many carcinogenic.
Smoke if you want, stay clear if you don't want to. I smoke and will continue to do so guilt free until I can no longer legally purchase them or until the day I wake up with the will to quit - which ever occurs first. I'm quite annoyed about how much obesity is costing the NHS but I won't campaign for fast food outlets to close, nor will I tut at overweight people eating pasties. Their choice. I also won't judge anyone based on hair colour or body piercings while I'm at it..........
hifive
says...
12:12pm Wed 29 Feb 12
newscritic wrote:True, but I don't drive and take issue with the harmful emissions from exhaust fumes. My point is most people will engage in a habit that others disapprove of for whatever reason. But whilst that "habit" is legal and readily available the best stance is to live and let live as bullying people into changing their ways will have the opposite effect if any all.
hifive wrote: Smoke if you want, stay clear if you don't want to. I smoke and will continue to do so guilt free until I can no longer legally purchase them or until the day I wake up with the will to quit - which ever occurs first. I'm quite annoyed about how much obesity is costing the NHS but I won't campaign for fast food outlets to close, nor will I tut at overweight people eating pasties. Their choice. I also won't judge anyone based on hair colour or body piercings while I'm at it..........Only problem I have with smokers is that smokers pollute the clean air and others lungs too with 4,000 chemicals many carcinogenic.
bananapajama
says...
12:18pm Wed 29 Feb 12
magicadey wrote:8 years ago when she would have been 14, the law did not regulate at what age you could smoke. The law only said that it was illegal to sell (note it didn't say purchase/attempt to purchase) tobacco products to someone under 16. Therefore purchasing and smoking them was legal at any age. Police only had the power to confiscate the cigarettes and ask where they were bought. This changed when the smoking ban was bought in, this bought tobacco in line with alcohol in that it is illegal to purchase, attempt to purchase or be in possession of tobacco products under 18.
And Laura - You should be looked down on. You broke the law and smoked at an illegal age and what do you know about the risk.
Laura did not break the law or smoke at an illegal age.
magicadey
says...
12:32pm Wed 29 Feb 12
ReginaldBiscuit
says...
12:41pm Wed 29 Feb 12
You do feel that smokers are almost at the 'legalise it' stage though.
TheTruthHurts
says...
12:42pm Wed 29 Feb 12
Chrido81
says...
12:47pm Wed 29 Feb 12
"That's quite a cough you have there, you should be thankful you're not a smoker like me".
I can turn the tables now in any case, since I've started to use an e-cig. People aren't as self righteous around you, yet people still move out of the way on busy streets when they see you puffing away. Bonus.
David of York
says...
1:34pm Wed 29 Feb 12
Besides, it is not the "class-related disadvantages" that put people off smoking, it is largely the health disadvantages.
Most people refrain from smoking not because they fear it may make them appear lower-class but because it is a disgusting, unhealthy and inconsiderate activity.
Gromit
says...
1:41pm Wed 29 Feb 12
She had a big operation to remove it, and had radio therapy. She got it again in 2007, she had more painful surgery.
Now in 2012 after getting it again in 2011, she is unable to get treatment. We are watching my mums face being eaten away by this disease, caused by all those years of smoking.
She is unable to eat or drink, and her speech is hard to understand.
I think if smokers were made to see what is happening to my mums face, they wouldn't be dying to have a fag any more.
alfie
says...
2:04pm Wed 29 Feb 12
York-10 wrote:Smoking is not a choice, the only choice you get is whether to smoke that first one then its addiction territory.
Smoking is a choice. Some people smoke some people don't. Fast food and drinking is bad for you, should they make that illegal too groble? Its right that people cant smoke in pubs and inside public places but banning it from outdoor public aras as well would be pushing it a bit far. I say this as a smoker and if im outside with people who dont smoke I stand away from them if a family or young children walk past me, i also stand away from them because it is my choice to smoke, and there's not to and i know it can be harmful and i respect that but i won't allow people to think that i am similar to the people described as 'typical smokers'
alfie
says...
2:08pm Wed 29 Feb 12
hifive wrote:you missed one out...until the day I have emphysema so bad I can no longer inhale due to the oxygen mask glued to my face.
Smoke if you want, stay clear if you don't want to. I smoke and will continue to do so guilt free until I can no longer legally purchase them or until the day I wake up with the will to quit - which ever occurs first. I'm quite annoyed about how much obesity is costing the NHS but I won't campaign for fast food outlets to close, nor will I tut at overweight people eating pasties. Their choice. I also won't judge anyone based on hair colour or body piercings while I'm at it..........
bloodaxe
says...
3:13pm Wed 29 Feb 12
ReginaldBiscuit wrote:Lepers don't choose to be lepers. Smokers do and if people wish to smoke then as long as they do it away from the 80% who don't then that's fine. The problem with smoking, like spitting, is that it's invasive and threatens the health and wellbeing of others.
The human race always creates lepers. That's what human beings do. If people want to smoke then let them, just not where I can breathe it in from the passive smoking risk.
You do feel that smokers are almost at the 'legalise it' stage though.
York-10
says...
3:23pm Wed 29 Feb 12
Gromit
says...
3:46pm Wed 29 Feb 12
York-10 wrote:Sounds like a true addict.
Alfie you should be in acting for your dramatisation. It is my choice. I know I dont need a cigarette and I aren't addicted because I know if I wanted to I could give up right now but I don't want to I enjoy smoking.
I'm tired of seeing countless cigarette filters dumped on pavements by irresponsible littering smokers who just walk away not thinking twice about anyone else who uses the street.
Its way up there with dog owners and the mess their animals make. Maybe both these groups should be made to eat what they leave?
daveyboy25
says...
3:57pm Wed 29 Feb 12
TheTruthHurts
says...
4:09pm Wed 29 Feb 12
alfie wrote:Ha yes of course. You do realise its not as addictive as that dont you.
York-10 wrote: Smoking is a choice. Some people smoke some people don't. Fast food and drinking is bad for you, should they make that illegal too groble? Its right that people cant smoke in pubs and inside public places but banning it from outdoor public aras as well would be pushing it a bit far. I say this as a smoker and if im outside with people who dont smoke I stand away from them if a family or young children walk past me, i also stand away from them because it is my choice to smoke, and there's not to and i know it can be harmful and i respect that but i won't allow people to think that i am similar to the people described as 'typical smokers'Smoking is not a choice, the only choice you get is whether to smoke that first one then its addiction territory.
Gromit
says...
4:12pm Wed 29 Feb 12
daveyboy25 wrote:So someone else has to deal with your mess? Why not get yourself a personal ashtray and take your cig ends home with you.
i smoke because i enjoy it. the day i decide its not for me i will quit. people enjoy a various of different things and i would not ask people to stop enjoying what they want so BUTT out. If cig butts are a problem try putting ash trays where they are needed
It is wrong to drop any kind of litter.
Gromit
says...
4:18pm Wed 29 Feb 12
It is about time smokers in this country took responsibility for their own mess.
York-10
says...
4:22pm Wed 29 Feb 12
newscritic
says...
4:48pm Wed 29 Feb 12
Gromit
says...
4:53pm Wed 29 Feb 12
newscritic wrote:Some people smoke and drink letting their kids go without decent food. I was one of those children.
I do not understand how many people can afford to smoke.
alfie
says...
5:10pm Wed 29 Feb 12
York-10 wrote:Did you enjoy that very first one you had all them years ago?
Alfie you should be in acting for your dramatisation. It is my choice. I know I dont need a cigarette and I aren't addicted because I know if I wanted to I could give up right now but I don't want to I enjoy smoking.
marma495
says...
5:14pm Wed 29 Feb 12
All it has done is cause resentment and a hell of a lot of closed venues.
alfie
says...
5:22pm Wed 29 Feb 12
TheTruthHurts wrote:Yes I do realise that. The trap is you have one and think that's not very nice how do people get addicted, so you don't have another for a while but then some people will try it again and again and will think they can stop when ever they like its not till they then actually try to stop when they realise they cant. They fool themselves that they enjoy it because they don't enjoy the feeling when they start to withdraw from nicotine.
alfie wrote:Ha yes of course. You do realise its not as addictive as that dont you.
York-10 wrote: Smoking is a choice. Some people smoke some people don't. Fast food and drinking is bad for you, should they make that illegal too groble? Its right that people cant smoke in pubs and inside public places but banning it from outdoor public aras as well would be pushing it a bit far. I say this as a smoker and if im outside with people who dont smoke I stand away from them if a family or young children walk past me, i also stand away from them because it is my choice to smoke, and there's not to and i know it can be harmful and i respect that but i won't allow people to think that i am similar to the people described as 'typical smokers'Smoking is not a choice, the only choice you get is whether to smoke that first one then its addiction territory.
York-10
says...
5:52pm Wed 29 Feb 12
yorkborn66
says...
7:23pm Wed 29 Feb 12
The amount of revenue the government makes on tobacco and cigarettes are huge.
If the government were not making so much money they would ban it.
I have never smoked in a pub even when I could and as for restaurants I found anyone smoking in one was dam ignorant.
The one thing I have noticed is how pubs now stink of body odder now people cannot smoke in them.
If someone wants to smoke then up to them, but I totally disagree with the report on social misfits smoking, personally when I am in pub and someone breaks wind and it stinks, that to me is a problem. Its all about balance, live and let live, but have consideration for others. Like that really happens in today’s society in general.
It really annoys me to see kids smoking .
Buzz Light-year
says...
7:58pm Wed 29 Feb 12
Chrido81 wrote:Bill Hicks
If someone coughs deliberately at you when you're out having a cig, just look them in the eye and say: "That's quite a cough you have there, you should be thankful you're not a smoker like me". I can turn the tables now in any case, since I've started to use an e-cig. People aren't as self righteous around you, yet people still move out of the way on busy streets when they see you puffing away. Bonus.
Buzz Light-year
says...
8:00pm Wed 29 Feb 12
Any smoking story usually gets a host of propaganda dressed up as "pro-choice" from those dudes.
I'm almost disappointed.
monkeyhanger
says...
10:34pm Wed 29 Feb 12
mortandindi
says...
7:14am Thu 1 Mar 12
alfie
says...
10:11am Thu 1 Mar 12
York-10 wrote:You didn't quit though you started again be it days, months or years you started again, why did you stop only to start again?
Alfie, yes I did. But I can go months without a cigarette, done it before, can do it again. It isn't as addictive as everyone makes out.
hifive
says...
10:43am Thu 1 Mar 12
newscritic
says...
10:49am Thu 1 Mar 12
hifive wrote:Calm down and have another ciggie.
Some of you angry non smokers sound like you can do with one to calm you down! I get it - it's disgusting. But to say we don't deserve health care etc is ridiculous. You'd have to exclude drinkers, obese people, drug addicts, basically everyone who has contributed in part to their own illness. I contribute well to the economy and am healthy in other areas of my lifestyle. I smoke about three cigarettes a day and don't think that is excessive. Anyone who drives is a huge hypocrite - I have to breathe disgusting fumes from your vehicles so put up with the three cigarettes I smoke in my own garden. If you don't like it...well get out of my garden!
hifive
says...
11:10am Thu 1 Mar 12
newscritic wrote:I'm perfectly calm I assure you. Nothing to do with the cigs - a positive mental attitude! Some of the angrier people on here will probably die long before me from a stress related illness! In fact, if you do get ill from stress perhaps fund your own health care due to the fact it's self inflicted? Why don't you go for a nice calming drive. Be sure to keep your windows closed so you don't breathe in those nasty fumes though!
hifive wrote: Some of you angry non smokers sound like you can do with one to calm you down! I get it - it's disgusting. But to say we don't deserve health care etc is ridiculous. You'd have to exclude drinkers, obese people, drug addicts, basically everyone who has contributed in part to their own illness. I contribute well to the economy and am healthy in other areas of my lifestyle. I smoke about three cigarettes a day and don't think that is excessive. Anyone who drives is a huge hypocrite - I have to breathe disgusting fumes from your vehicles so put up with the three cigarettes I smoke in my own garden. If you don't like it...well get out of my garden!Calm down and have another ciggie.
newscritic
says...
11:19am Thu 1 Mar 12
hifive wrote:The Treasury will be more than happy for you to light up another coffin nail and pay the onerous tax for the dubious pleasure.
newscritic wrote:I'm perfectly calm I assure you. Nothing to do with the cigs - a positive mental attitude! Some of the angrier people on here will probably die long before me from a stress related illness! In fact, if you do get ill from stress perhaps fund your own health care due to the fact it's self inflicted? Why don't you go for a nice calming drive. Be sure to keep your windows closed so you don't breathe in those nasty fumes though!
hifive wrote: Some of you angry non smokers sound like you can do with one to calm you down! I get it - it's disgusting. But to say we don't deserve health care etc is ridiculous. You'd have to exclude drinkers, obese people, drug addicts, basically everyone who has contributed in part to their own illness. I contribute well to the economy and am healthy in other areas of my lifestyle. I smoke about three cigarettes a day and don't think that is excessive. Anyone who drives is a huge hypocrite - I have to breathe disgusting fumes from your vehicles so put up with the three cigarettes I smoke in my own garden. If you don't like it...well get out of my garden!Calm down and have another ciggie.
By the way smoke from ciggies spreads across garden boundaries contracting ones throat and lungs.
hifive
says...
11:25am Thu 1 Mar 12
newscritic wrote:I have a particularly large garden, I'm sure my big bad malboro light won't do you too much harm.....
hifive wrote:The Treasury will be more than happy for you to light up another coffin nail and pay the onerous tax for the dubious pleasure. By the way smoke from ciggies spreads across garden boundaries contracting ones throat and lungs.newscritic wrote:I'm perfectly calm I assure you. Nothing to do with the cigs - a positive mental attitude! Some of the angrier people on here will probably die long before me from a stress related illness! In fact, if you do get ill from stress perhaps fund your own health care due to the fact it's self inflicted? Why don't you go for a nice calming drive. Be sure to keep your windows closed so you don't breathe in those nasty fumes though!hifive wrote: Some of you angry non smokers sound like you can do with one to calm you down! I get it - it's disgusting. But to say we don't deserve health care etc is ridiculous. You'd have to exclude drinkers, obese people, drug addicts, basically everyone who has contributed in part to their own illness. I contribute well to the economy and am healthy in other areas of my lifestyle. I smoke about three cigarettes a day and don't think that is excessive. Anyone who drives is a huge hypocrite - I have to breathe disgusting fumes from your vehicles so put up with the three cigarettes I smoke in my own garden. If you don't like it...well get out of my garden!Calm down and have another ciggie.
Seriously, go for that drive!
newscritic
says...
11:31am Thu 1 Mar 12
hifive wrote:Seriously carry on smoking and I hardly ever drive cos I'm a good boy I am.
newscritic wrote:I have a particularly large garden, I'm sure my big bad malboro light won't do you too much harm.....
hifive wrote:The Treasury will be more than happy for you to light up another coffin nail and pay the onerous tax for the dubious pleasure. By the way smoke from ciggies spreads across garden boundaries contracting ones throat and lungs.newscritic wrote:I'm perfectly calm I assure you. Nothing to do with the cigs - a positive mental attitude! Some of the angrier people on here will probably die long before me from a stress related illness! In fact, if you do get ill from stress perhaps fund your own health care due to the fact it's self inflicted? Why don't you go for a nice calming drive. Be sure to keep your windows closed so you don't breathe in those nasty fumes though!hifive wrote: Some of you angry non smokers sound like you can do with one to calm you down! I get it - it's disgusting. But to say we don't deserve health care etc is ridiculous. You'd have to exclude drinkers, obese people, drug addicts, basically everyone who has contributed in part to their own illness. I contribute well to the economy and am healthy in other areas of my lifestyle. I smoke about three cigarettes a day and don't think that is excessive. Anyone who drives is a huge hypocrite - I have to breathe disgusting fumes from your vehicles so put up with the three cigarettes I smoke in my own garden. If you don't like it...well get out of my garden!Calm down and have another ciggie.
Seriously, go for that drive!
hifive
says...
11:33am Thu 1 Mar 12
newscritic wrote:I'm sure your "hardly ever" equates nicely to my three light cigarettes in my large garden. Shall we call it a draw?
hifive wrote:Seriously carry on smoking and I hardly ever drive cos I'm a good boy I am.newscritic wrote:I have a particularly large garden, I'm sure my big bad malboro light won't do you too much harm..... Seriously, go for that drive!hifive wrote:The Treasury will be more than happy for you to light up another coffin nail and pay the onerous tax for the dubious pleasure. By the way smoke from ciggies spreads across garden boundaries contracting ones throat and lungs.newscritic wrote:I'm perfectly calm I assure you. Nothing to do with the cigs - a positive mental attitude! Some of the angrier people on here will probably die long before me from a stress related illness! In fact, if you do get ill from stress perhaps fund your own health care due to the fact it's self inflicted? Why don't you go for a nice calming drive. Be sure to keep your windows closed so you don't breathe in those nasty fumes though!hifive wrote: Some of you angry non smokers sound like you can do with one to calm you down! I get it - it's disgusting. But to say we don't deserve health care etc is ridiculous. You'd have to exclude drinkers, obese people, drug addicts, basically everyone who has contributed in part to their own illness. I contribute well to the economy and am healthy in other areas of my lifestyle. I smoke about three cigarettes a day and don't think that is excessive. Anyone who drives is a huge hypocrite - I have to breathe disgusting fumes from your vehicles so put up with the three cigarettes I smoke in my own garden. If you don't like it...well get out of my garden!Calm down and have another ciggie.
newscritic
says...
11:36am Thu 1 Mar 12
You do what gets you through life and good luck to you.
hifive
says...
12:00pm Thu 1 Mar 12
newscritic
says...
12:03pm Thu 1 Mar 12
hifive wrote:Now now don't throw goodwill back in my face.
That was my point yesterday morning! Jeez....that took a while.
FulfordFreeThinker
says...
1:47pm Thu 1 Mar 12
mortandindi wrote:Perhaps we should charge £50 per spelling mistake? You owe me £100.
They should be treated as outsiders, they stink themselves and pollute wherever they go. Until they banned smoking inside public buildings, restaurants, bars etc were revolting places to go, now it stinks just walking through the city centre. Ban healthcare for the lot of them, their nothing short of social lepers. We have a budjet coming up shortly, how about making it £50 a packet to offset what problems they cause to the general public.
alfie
says...
1:56pm Thu 1 Mar 12
mortandindi wrote:oh dear me : (
They should be treated as outsiders, they stink themselves and pollute wherever they go. Until they banned smoking inside public buildings, restaurants, bars etc were revolting places to go, now it stinks just walking through the city centre. Ban healthcare for the lot of them, their nothing short of social lepers. We have a budjet coming up shortly, how about making it £50 a packet to offset what problems they cause to the general public.
SuperChris
says...
7:55am Fri 2 Mar 12
Hollywood Star
says...
1:30pm Fri 2 Mar 12
I detest walking past people smoking at the entrances to places, it is horrible.
By the way, i say all this as an ex-smoker, quit 6 years ago and it is the best thing i have EVER done !!!
nomadic85
says...
1:54pm Fri 2 Mar 12
inmandres
says...
4:46pm Fri 2 Mar 12
deathwatch
says...
8:54pm Fri 2 Mar 12
newscritic wrote:And car exhausts don't pollute the air, I suppose? Shall we ban cars/lorries/motorcy
hifive wrote:Only problem I have with smokers is that smokers pollute the clean air and others lungs too with 4,000 chemicals many carcinogenic.
Smoke if you want, stay clear if you don't want to. I smoke and will continue to do so guilt free until I can no longer legally purchase them or until the day I wake up with the will to quit - which ever occurs first. I'm quite annoyed about how much obesity is costing the NHS but I won't campaign for fast food outlets to close, nor will I tut at overweight people eating pasties. Their choice. I also won't judge anyone based on hair colour or body piercings while I'm at it..........
cles with lethal carbon monoxide??? Ground all aircraft to 'save the Planet?
deathwatch
says...
8:55pm Fri 2 Mar 12
hifive wrote:Very true...
newscritic wrote:True, but I don't drive and take issue with the harmful emissions from exhaust fumes. My point is most people will engage in a habit that others disapprove of for whatever reason. But whilst that "habit" is legal and readily available the best stance is to live and let live as bullying people into changing their ways will have the opposite effect if any all.
hifive wrote: Smoke if you want, stay clear if you don't want to. I smoke and will continue to do so guilt free until I can no longer legally purchase them or until the day I wake up with the will to quit - which ever occurs first. I'm quite annoyed about how much obesity is costing the NHS but I won't campaign for fast food outlets to close, nor will I tut at overweight people eating pasties. Their choice. I also won't judge anyone based on hair colour or body piercings while I'm at it..........Only problem I have with smokers is that smokers pollute the clean air and others lungs too with 4,000 chemicals many carcinogenic.
newscritic
says...
9:32pm Fri 2 Mar 12
deathwatch wrote:Now you know that is not in the least bit practical, but smokers can stop smoking.
newscritic wrote:And car exhausts don't pollute the air, I suppose? Shall we ban cars/lorries/motorcy
hifive wrote:Only problem I have with smokers is that smokers pollute the clean air and others lungs too with 4,000 chemicals many carcinogenic.
Smoke if you want, stay clear if you don't want to. I smoke and will continue to do so guilt free until I can no longer legally purchase them or until the day I wake up with the will to quit - which ever occurs first. I'm quite annoyed about how much obesity is costing the NHS but I won't campaign for fast food outlets to close, nor will I tut at overweight people eating pasties. Their choice. I also won't judge anyone based on hair colour or body piercings while I'm at it..........
cles with lethal carbon monoxide??? Ground all aircraft to 'save the Planet?
Carbon monoxide is reduced by catalytic converters in car exhausts. The same can't be said for cigarettes which also produce carbon monoxide.
THE BEAR!!!
says...
9:26am Sat 3 Mar 12
Nothing like been stood there watching the game and inhaling someone elses cancer fumes from all around you. And parents smoking in the car while toddlers/kids in the back seat, having the window open 35mm does not mean the children will be safe. It just means your selfish parents.
CityBoy
says...
10:18am Sat 3 Mar 12
CityBoy
says...
10:31am Sat 3 Mar 12
THE BEAR!!! wrote:As for watching the football, smoking is only permitted in the Longhurst - if it bothers you that much try the Pop Stand or Main Stand where the air will be as pure as an alpine breeze. People smoking at football - who would have thought it - an absolute outrage!
Making it illegal will never happen. But i do wish it would be banned from sporting occasions. Like that of going to watch York City...
Nothing like been stood there watching the game and inhaling someone elses cancer fumes from all around you. And parents smoking in the car while toddlers/kids in the back seat, having the window open 35mm does not mean the children will be safe. It just means your selfish parents.
newscritic
says...
12:47pm Sat 3 Mar 12
CityBoy wrote:I'm not telling you to do anything you go ahead.
I smoke mainly because I enjoy it, but also to stick 2 fingers up at all the moralising, holier than thou preachermen (heavily represented on this thread I might say), who constantly tell me I should stop. Stuff the lot of you - if I believed that passive smoking could kill you I'd willing blow smoke right in your miserable faces!
As for miserable faces most smokers always tend to look miserable to me.
changsta888
says...
1:23am Sun 4 Mar 12
I am a smoker myself and i have never been told i look miserable due to my optimistic look on life and my active imagination and if anything with to dead end jobs i shouldn't have the smile that is on my face just about all the time.
dogcapp
says...
10:50am Sun 4 Mar 12
WS-York
says...
11:06am Sun 4 Mar 12
Hicarrumba
says...
11:03am Mon 5 Mar 12
bananapajama wrote:8 years ago, the law was 16 for tobacco, had been since the 80's. Know your facts banana. And being an ex smoker, I too now look at smokers and think, you really need to feel the end fit of not smoking.
magicadey wrote:8 years ago when she would have been 14, the law did not regulate at what age you could smoke. The law only said that it was illegal to sell (note it didn't say purchase/attempt to purchase) tobacco products to someone under 16. Therefore purchasing and smoking them was legal at any age. Police only had the power to confiscate the cigarettes and ask where they were bought. This changed when the smoking ban was bought in, this bought tobacco in line with alcohol in that it is illegal to purchase, attempt to purchase or be in possession of tobacco products under 18.
And Laura - You should be looked down on. You broke the law and smoked at an illegal age and what do you know about the risk.
Laura did not break the law or smoke at an illegal age.
NoMorePlease
says...
8:32pm Mon 5 Mar 12
CityBoy wrote:Well your last sentence shows whta a selfish idiot you are.
I smoke mainly because I enjoy it, but also to stick 2 fingers up at all the moralising, holier than thou preachermen (heavily represented on this thread I might say), who constantly tell me I should stop. Stuff the lot of you - if I believed that passive smoking could kill you I'd willing blow smoke right in your miserable faces!
uhtred
says...
8:43am Tue 6 Mar 12
Mentos
says...
9:48am Tue 6 Mar 12
CityBoy wrote:Well it's one thing to give 2 fingers to anti-smokers (especially the self-righteous ones),
I smoke mainly because I enjoy it, but also to stick 2 fingers up at all the moralising, holier than thou preachermen (heavily represented on this thread I might say), who constantly tell me I should stop. Stuff the lot of you - if I believed that passive smoking could kill you I'd willing blow smoke right in your miserable faces!
but to deliberatly wish harm on anyone else. Do you have any friends or are you as sad as come over
Ichabod76
says...
11:37am Tue 6 Mar 12
“smoking is the largest single cause of preventable illness and premature death in the UK. It kills 106,000 people every year and costs the British taxpayer more than £1.7billion a year in treatment bills alone. It causes 84 per cent of deaths from lung cancer and 83 per cent of deaths from chronic obstructive lung disease, including
bronchitis”
So
Smoking “costs the British taxpayer more than £1.7billion a year in treatment bills”
“Most of the expenditure of The Department of Health (£98.7 billion in 2008-9) is spent on the NHS.”
(from Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/National_He
...(England)
And
UK Tax revenue from tobacco products - £10 billion (approx)
From tma website
http://www.the-tma.o
rg.uk/tobacco-tax-re
...
So
NHS costs - £100 billion
Smoking makes the government £10 billion
Smoking costs – £2 billion
I know there are other issues to be added to this balance sheet, many of which are beyond financial. However, from my point for view, I know what I am going to be saying to the people who claim that I am costing them money from smoking.
Mentos
says...
11:41am Tue 6 Mar 12
You are correct of course in purely financial terms but what of the moral issue?
Should we not discourage a practice that kills people even if the goverment (hypocrites on these issues of course) looses revenue?
sunnysteve
says...
4:03pm Tue 6 Mar 12
browbeaten
says...
10:01pm Tue 6 Mar 12
yorkandproud says...
9:37am Wed 29 Feb 12