British Parliament votes today on smoking ban
 

Some of you may be pleased to hear that MPs will vote today on whether to ban smoking in bars, pubs, clubs and restaurants in England & Wales.

The Government wants to make an exception for private clubs and pubs that don't serve food, but news reports indicate that the majority of MPs favour a total ban.

You can watch the vote as it happens on
http://news.bbc.co.uk

And a total ban is already set to come into force in Scotland on March 26th this year - can't wait !

I think we will be going to pubs much more frequently again :-)

I know that I should think it's a good thing - have been trying to give up for years - but at the same time I'm almost terrified!! :-( I spend half my life in pubs, what on earth am I going to do?!?!

I must admit that I'm also one of those dreadfully stubborn types, still stuck in a teenage mindset, who hates being told what to do!!

(And no, you don't need to tell me how evil it is, and how I shouldn't inflict it on other, I do KNOW that - I'm just being honest from my point of view...)

>...MPs will vote today on whether to ban smoking in bars, pubs, clubs and restaurants ...<

Sadists!

How can you require someone to drink alcohol or coffee without a cigarette?

Too little fat and no nicotine in the diet is the cause of "road rage", discourtesy in society, lower SAT scores, unemployment, terrorism and the war in Iraq.

((I))

"Too little fat and no nicotine in the diet is the cause of "road rage", discourtesy in society, lower SAT scores, unemployment, terrorism and the war in Iraq. "

Tht's obviously why I'm such a well-balanced, peaceful, polite, intelligent person. Can anyone cadge me a fag?

(I'm guessing that doesn't translate...)

You know it's frightening Tallulah, but sometimes I think I know you...

Hi K,

>Can anyone cadge me a fag?

(I'm guessing that doesn't translate...)<

Yes, it do. If you give me your eml address, I'll send you one.

Some years ago, when I was still at the University, I used the word "fag" to refer to the younger boy who was assigned as a slavey to an older boy at prep schools.

I do believe that I use the term correctly.

Whooooooo Boyyyy! What an uproar that caused. :)

((I))

Tallulah, if I told you to go immediately to collect the millions you had just won from the lottery I bet you wouldn't have any reservations about being "told what to do.".

Eventually, everyone stops smoking...please don't be in that last batch of folks.

Intrepid: Whilst you have a point, one needs to take into consideration the fact that if I had millions to collect from the lottery then I must have taken the decision to enter said lottery.... And that's called free will :-)

Kate - I know exactly what you mean, scary, isn't it?!!

I have a friend who's nickname is Tallulah. No it couldn't be. You don't work in PR by any chance?

Ira: A friend of mine was in the States some years back and absent-mindedly asked for '20 fags' in a shop. That got a few startled looks too!!

(For the record, cigarettes in the UK are sold in packs of 10 or 20, so you tend to say what quantity rather than how many boxes you want... at the time he wasn't too concerned about which brand so didn't state it)

This is good news. You will all live better without your ciggys. Sinilar laws have been passed in amay US states and other Euro countries with no noticible financial impact.

A friend of mine worked as a school teacher in Canada & got some startled looks when telling a boy who'd just sidled back into class : "I know what you've been doing, you've been having a fag !" :-)

Strange, though, Kate, I'd use the word 'cadge' differently; as in "can I cadge a fag off anyone ?". And yes, I used to... no anti-smoker more virulent than an ex-smoker, I'm afraid.

Personally I don't think the Scottish Executive is going far enough - I'd ban smoking in the street too. There's nothing worse than standing in a bus shelter with a smoker in the early morning - especially with a hangover :-)

Kate: No I don't work in PR although I used to many years ago! I waste my life in advertising, for my sins!

When's the next next London GTG? We should both definitely go to that!

What if that GTG is in a non-smoking venue??????

Intrepid: then I shall politely step outside as and when the urge takes me! I can cope in non-smoking venues/places most of the time (I have no problem on planes, for example, am flying to LA next month and that will be fine) but sometimes I like to have the choice.

However, if I were to organise it, tough luck - hahaha!!

Since I'm an ex-smoker I know first hand how difficult it is to give it up, but living in California with all the bans coming one after another, and everytime a tax was needed it was added to a pack of cigarettes made it much easier!

The final straw for me was Rob Reiner's initiative that added an exhorbitant amount of tax to cigarettes to aid underprivileged children (it passed, of course, since it was for the kiddies). Obviously I have compassion for underprivileged children, but why I as a smoker should support their cause defied reason in my mind. So I quit cold turkey!

Finally done with it, it was as if a huge weight had been lifted from my back, and I was no longer treated badly by the Nicotine Nazis, the fanning and so forth, or as a second class citizen. Saved a ton of money too!

I have always felt smoking in bars/pubs/taverns should be left to the owners and frequent patrons. It could be posted as a "smoking bar" and if one didn't want the smoke you'd go elsewhere.

Maybe spending a few months in California would give incentive to you smokers to quit. I can guarantee you'd be miserable if you didn't.

The solution to the entire issue can be seen at (ex-Phoenix Sun Dan) Majerle's Bar in downtown Phoenix:

The air-handling equipment carries the smoke away so efficiently that you can't even smell the smoke when you walk in the door. In airplanes, it would be trivial to "leave a window open" to allow the pressurization to exhaust the smoke from an area of the cabin behind a partition defining the "smoking section."

(By the way - has anyone ever tried smoking in an airplane lavatory and blowing the smoke down the drain of the wash basin? It's vented to the atmosphere, which is why you hear the rush of air when it's open. I'd try it, but I haven't had a cigarette since 1980.)

"Maybe spending a few months in California would give incentive to you smokers to quit. I can guarantee you'd be miserable if you didn't."

As a health care provider i can almost guarantee you that eventually you would be even more miserable if you had kept on smoking.

Robes, I hate to break this to you but the toilets on airlines are "vented" to a holding tank. If they were vented to the atmosphere your butt would have been sucked into the wild blue yonder a long time ago.

So, did they vote yet?

((I))

to tallulah-
re
"I know that I should think it's a good thing - have been trying to give up for years - but at the same time I'm almost terrified!! I spend half my life in pubs, what on earth am I going to do?!?!"

I sympathize with that terrified feeling, as I went through something similar years agao for the opposite reason, when I had to give up going to most bars with my smoking friends because I gave up smoking and couldn't take the smell.
I was so thrilled when we got smoke free bars here in NY and I could once again go out for drinks with pals! But I learned to cope with the inconvenience over the years, and now the pendulum has finally swung my (our) way, at long last!

Good luck finding ways to deal with it.!

They just signed into law the smoking ban in New Jersey, to include private clubs. The only exception is the Casino floors. The ban goes into effect on 15 April.

All the cigar smokers are whining about where they are going to go to smoke their cigars. It was totally unacceptable for me to suggest they smoke their cigars at home. Surely their wives wouldn't mind. :-) ((b))

Viva la New Jersey!

Intrepid1, you know not whereof you speak.

First, I didn't mention toilets, because I know they lead to the bin. This is about the wash basin.

Second, every airliner has air leaks in it totaling more than a square foot in area, including the seals around the main doors (which you can hear hissing when you walk by). Fortunately, the pressurization system (bleed air from the turbines) vastly more than compensate for it. An airplane's wash basin drains into the gray-water sump which is held at a pressure lower than that of the cabin by a connection to the outside.

Third, the idea that a small hole in an airliner will cause the contents to be sucked out is a myth that has been thoroughly debunked many, many times. Start with this article, with special attention to the bullet points following the end of the paragraph:

http://tinyurl.com/eyepy

Thanks Bella! Fingers crossed that I sort it out soon!

ira: Yes, they voted. Total ban in all pubs and clubs by a majority of 200, instead of the less strict options favored by the Government.

Sorry, Robes but I do not wish to fly on any plane that has air hissing around the seals of the doors.

Tallulah, advertising eh? Small world indeed, used to be an art director meself, but have gone back to my purist design roots.

when will smoking end in restaurants?

In England & Wales, summer 2007.

In Scotland, 26th March 2006 :-)

What, you think when the crew closes the doors after the passengers board, all the air stays inside until they're opened again? Here's a Boeing paper

http://www.boeing.com/commercial/cab...entilation.pdf

where you will find that twenty cubic feet of air, half of it from outside, is introduced into the cabin for each passenger every minute, resulting in a complete cabin air exchange every two or three minutes.

Airliner cabins leak like sieves, and the manufacturers and operators don't worry about it. Neither do I.

Introduced air and air exchanges are hardly the same thing as sudden de-pressurization and whether or not you worry about this or anything else hardly matters in the grander scheme of things.

We've disagreed before and no doubt we will again..and yes, you can program your handheld so you don't forget it.

Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile

While you've a lucifer to light your fag, smile, boys, that's the style

What's the use of worrying? It's never worth your while...soooooo

Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile.

Lucifer = match
fag = cigarette

Vintage 1915 -- and they killed more men than the Germans. And they still do.

If you want to change the subject to sudden depressurization, go ahead and talk to yourself.

This exchange began with my musing on whether the negative pressure in the sink drain would carry smoke out of the lavatory.

Why don't we both just shut up and try it?