Smoke free zone

[Bill W]

Oh dear!

Emotions run high!

I am a smoker. If people do no want to share my company that is fine by me. If I vist their house out of respect for them I do not smoke. If they visit my house I go into a different room or outside to smoke.

My understanding is that the entire Tigers Ground will bvecome a non smoking zone on match days. My personal view is that this is totally over the top. Vinegar and curry sauce should also be banned throughout the ground - both are well known carciogens.

But if that is what you heathens want - so be it!!!

[dailywaffle]

and in no way, shape or form is smoking next to somebody the equivalent of urinating on them! what planet are you on? or are you the ones who think Goode is the worst 10 in the world as well?

Hi MT

In fairness I was putting forward an extreme, but interesting none the less, point of view. Having been brought up in a pub I can tell you that I am too familiar with both of these 'unsociables' as it were !

I am not sure what Goode has to do with this thread ? Does he smoke in the changing room ?

Whatever the merits or fairness of it all, the game is up for smokers in this country. Like it or not, smokers can no more roll back the tide of anti-smoking legislation than Canute could the sea.

[Mountsorrel Tiger]

I just find it amuzing everybody is so anti smoking when the amount of tax smokers pay on their fags contributes so much to the NHS, which would fall apart if everybody stopped smoking tomorrow.

I do find this very emotive, I think smoking should be banned on the terrace, in the bars and the stands. no question. but provison needs to be made for smokers - either an area to smoke in or the ability to go out of the ground to smoke. I think that would be reasonable and well in line with legislation.

[Bill W]

Yep! So all us smokers and 4x$ drivers will give up smoking and driving and all you green guys will have to pay twice as much income tax!!!

[unohoo]

My understanding of the new laws is that inside a public (or private for that matter) bar smoking is banned, but outside, in say a beer garden, it will not be illegal to smoke. therefore the terraces may not be covered in the new legislation providing smoking doesnt go against health and safety laws.

and in no way, shape or form is smoking next to somebody the equivalent of urinating on them! what planet are you on? or are you the ones who think Goode is the worst 10 in the world as well?

My understanding is it will cover ALL places of work. Stewards work on the Terrace and in the stands. Programme sellers, etc, work in the areas between stands. There are staff in the concourses. As far as I see it, the whole ground will have to be non-smoking by law.

[Pellsey]

I hate people smoking around me when watching the game when you can't get away from it. It's inconsiderate and it really gets up my nose, so to speak. BUT, it's also not fair IMHO to stop smokers smoking in the whole ground, because then they will get the twitches and then become violent. :D If there were a smoking corner (maybe at the end of the members stand (or whatever it is called now!!), smokers could do their thing and non smokers could stay away.

[dailywaffle]

I just find it amuzing everybody is so anti smoking when the amount of tax smokers pay on their fags contributes so much to the NHS, which would fall apart if everybody stopped smoking tomorrow.

Its quite true that revenue on smoking (c. £8B) is significantly higher than NHS costs for treating smokers (c. £1.5 B). Although this doesn't take into account the fact that the UK supports tobacco growing through EU subsidies (tobacco growing is very heavily subsidised), 15 % of ciggies generate no revenue because they are smuggled etc.

However, I always figured that the 'human cost' of smoking (for example, my grandfather died from a smoking related condition) made such analysis redundant.

Getting back to the compromise of a 'smokers corner' - the government have made it quite clear that such areas will not exist in the workplace, restaurants etc. Whilst I can see why people want a compromise ..... you will never get it. The words 'cigarettes' and 'compromise' are legislatively incompatible !

[Pellsey]

The tax raised by smoking contributes to the NHS because smokers (statistically) use the NHS more. It's the same with alcohol. I'm glad I live in a country where virtually tax free beer is seen as part of the constitution. (I buy 20 0.5l bottles of beer for about 4 pounds !!) I pay more though for health insurance.

[Pellsey]

If everybody stopped smoking tomorrow, the NHS would still exist, but there would be less need for it, because there would be less patients with cancer, heart disease, strokes....

[oxfordtiger]

I don't think this should be a smoking v non-smoking debate as our tax goes towards paying people to do that for us so the we have more time to think about more important issues such as rugby.

Although I am quite a heavy smoker I have no interest in smoking in the close proximity of hundreds of people who don't. I work in a no smoking environment, go out for meals etc where smoking is not permitted and if I need a nicotine fix I can go outside where no one else is affected.

Us smokers are not asking the non-smokers to sign a petition to overturn parliaments decision over the pending no smoking policy, we just want a small corner, or the ability to go outside where we can happily suck on our rolled up weed without bothering anyone else.

[tigerstotty]

Hull is famously (or should that be infamously?) the heart disease capital of the UK - with more smokers than any other city. Yes, it is bad for the smoker and allegedly, those around you from passive smoking.

Undoubtedly, it makes your breath smell nasty, your clothes stink, ages you more quickly, so from a vanity point of view, not at all nice.

However, we live in a free country (so I am told). I can see both sides of the argument, having been both a smoker, ex-smoker (the worst anti-smoker ever during these times), and now 5 a day smoker (usually within my own home).

There should absolutely be NO SMOKING areas, but I do have a problem with extending it to everywhere.

There are quite a few things I object to more than smoking, whether they be health-related or not.

One of the main ones is unruly children whose parents do nothing to control them. Being child-free (by choice) I get extremely angry about kids running riot in pubs, shops etc whilst their parents appear oblivious. Maybe I should start a petition to ban children from public places?

[oxfordtiger]

I like the idea of banning children from public places but it may be difficult, I've been trying to ban them from my house with no success.

[Kinoulton]

But of course we should ban children.

Just like smokers and drinkers, they're putting a strain on the NHS. All those blooming injections and braces on their teeth.

And what about old people? Always calling on the NHS, getting ill, falling over, occupying beds. Incosiderate gits.

And I don't like old people being near me. I'm not saying ban them from the whole ground but there should be a part of the ground where they can all go and be old.

Probably somewhere outside that's quite cold and smelly.

And another thing. Those non-smoking, non-drinking pedestrians. Supposing they trip over a loose paving slab and break something. Where do they go? The NHS that I pay for. Tax them for heaven's sake, they mustn't have free treatment.

For Pete's sake let's not go showing compassion to anyone.

[Mountsorrel Tiger]

My understanding is it will cover ALL places of work. Stewards work on the Terrace and in the stands. Programme sellers, etc, work in the areas between stands. There are staff in the concourses. As far as I see it, the whole ground will have to be non-smoking by law.

The bar I run in Durham has, and will continue to have, a smoking beer garden. As far as I have been advised by various legal people, it is the inside of a bar, as if one were to say that ANY WORKPLACE cannot be smoked in, then effectively smoking will be banned everywhere but the individuals house because of street cleaners, dustbin men etc. I think the arguement is that in a bar, or any enclosed area, the smoke has nowhere to go, and therefore it represents a health hazard for people who are working there, as they are constantly going to be breathing in smoke. Couldn't agree more. But outside, I think because the smoke can mix easily with the atmosphere, there is less of a health hazard. Maybe I'm wrong but according to four solicitors thats about the long and short of it - smoking wouldn't have to be banned in the entire ground, just covered areas.

[Phil B]

What about Big Issue sellers? Surely they are entitled to a smoke-free pavement. C'mon, be fair life hasn't treated them that well so why should they be left out?