Smokers won’t be put off...

Smokers are nothing if not dedicated.

After all, is there any other vice in which the buyer has to jump through so many hoops to get their fix?

Short of selling fags from inside fortified mountain top corner shops, accessible only by a Sherpa guided trail, it’s hard to think of a product so buyerunfriendly.

For a start, you’d have thought the extortionate price of a packet of cigarettes would be deterrent enough. In the 1970s a pack of 20 cigs would set you back 20p. Ten years ago they cost you a fiver. Today the same pack costs you a tenner. And they don’t even look appealing. Manufacturers now, by law, can only sell them in ugly green packs. The packaging will also feature pictures of damaged lungs and a warning that Smoking Kills.

Even if you’re minded to buy a packet, you’re limited as to where you can smoke them. Smokers are banned from pubs, restaurants and even, if you have kids, banned from smoking in your own car.

Still not put off? There’s a mountain of health statistics on just how bad smoking is four your health (and of those around you) causing issues like heart conditions, respiratory and circulatory problems, cancer and, of course, death.

There’s even a whole month devoted to urging people to stop ... and we’re half way through it. The Stoptober campaign reveals just how determined smokers are.

Despite all the hoops outlined above, one in five North East adults still smoke. All we can ask is smokers reconsider again this month. If not, we can only praise your dedication. As Roy Castle once sang, you need dedication if you want to be a record breaker. Wonder what ever happened to old Roy?