SMOKING – STUB IT OUT
Soon in Oxfordshire you won’t be able to smoke – not just in premises that serve food, but outside them as well. And it’s not just restaurants and cafés where this rule will apply. If you leave your office desk for a sneaky fag break you will be in breach of the law as well.
So many people that I know and love enjoy a sneaky ciggie and, up until now, it seemed to me that we had the balance right – no smoking inside but if you want to risk the elements you can always pop out for one.
But maybe rather than these new proposals being deemed too harsh – maybe they are just too soft? After all, smoking kills and we know it. But then again, so does overeating, and having a tipple too many and too regularly.
I am old enough to remember when cigarette smoke filled every taxi I caught or every pub I frequented. When the initial ban came in 14 years ago, most people thought it was far too draconian, but it wasn’t long before banning smoking indoors or wearing seatbelts for every car trip we took became normal.
RUTH:
Has each of those things been good for us? Undoubtedly so. The shock factor is us being told what to do and feeling that our human liberties are being curtailed.
So the social side of me thinks this new move in Oxfordshire is a step too far, especially since it will be adopted around the country, but the sensible side of me knows that smoking kills. It is not our friend and we can’t allow ourselves to be seduced by the addiction that is nicotine.
So, deep breath, live with the penalty – but take that breath in the knowledge that the air around you will be fit to breathe.
‘The shock is being told what to do’