>> The bouncers' voices were on semi-automatic as they fired volleys of 'No smoking!' into the queue of confused ticketholders. Once inside, my brain naturally went into downtime as it waited for my eyes to adjust to the density of smoke but the reading came back refreshingly negative. No wafting smoke. No drifting smells. No lingering layers of stale greyness. No difficulty in seeing the bar. No waving of non-smoking hands or scrunching up of endangered healthy faces. Just clean, crisp, sensible air.

I drew in great breaths of disbelief and I think I heard my lungs thank the Government.

Tobacco kills its fans in a variety of horrible ways. These include lung cancer, cardiovascular disease and lung ailments such as COPD, bronchitis and asthma. There are few parts of the body you could say smoking has no negative effect on. Stick a hosepipe over the end of your exhaust and drive around for a bit. I think you'd end up pretty dead pretty quick. And yet that's what smoking does to you. (It just takes little longer.)

I'm starting to see of the increasingly protective anti-smoking legislation as a sort of window gradually opening up and letting in more and more gusts of fresh air and common sense. Whatever next – giving up the habit? cs
by Nick Scott

For more articles please visit the archive.