Calling time on smokers - hurrah!
| 12:16 UK time, Tuesday, 12 December 2006
Don't you just hate ex-smokers? Yes, they are to be applauded for quitting but why do they feel that qualifies them to preach to the smokers? No, that's not the way to do it. The most effective way to reduce the number of smokers is to ban smoking in public places, don't you think?
As a former smoker myself it wasn't being bullied into quitting or even seeing friends and family dying from the effects of smoking that made me quit, it was having fewer places to smoke.
Having kids meant I wouldn't smoke in the house, having non smoking friends meant I couldn't smoke in their house - or next to them in the pub - and, eventually, standing outside in the cold lost its appeal.
Now, I can't stand being in a smoky atmosphere. I prefer a 'spit and sawdust' type of pub - like Mold's Ruthin Castle or the nearby Delyn Wine Bar - but sometimes they can be the worst places. So roll on April 2 2007, I say, when a new ban comes into effect.
The Welsh Assembly has created the website, , giving more info about the implications of The Health Act 2006 regarding regulations for a ban on smoking in enclosed public places in Wales. It can't come some enough for me.
