On July 1st, it will be illegal to smoke in public places in the UK. Now I don't smoke and agree that it should be discouraged from public. However I do think smokers are being criminalised a bit much in the run up to banning this "evil habit". But that's the good old UK media for you. Any chance to exaggerate.

But this really does go too far. I just read it on IMDB:

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Law Will Bar Smoking on U.K. Movie Sets
Anti-smoking groups that have long complained about scenes in movies showing the stars smoking will apparently get a big boost from a new British law that takes effect Sunday barring smoking in enclosed public places. The law will apparently also apply to all film productions in the U.K. Under the law, producers may apply for exemptions in the case of productions where smoking is "integral to the plot or storyline." But London officials recently rejected an application for an exemption in the case of a forthcoming play about Pope John Paul I in which a cardinal is seen smoking, forcing a rewrite of the scene. An actors' union spokesman said later that authorities would only allow exemptions to productions about real-life persons, like Winston Churchill, who were known for their smoking.

Ridiculous. Utterly stupid. I don't know about other countries, but it seems like the UK is obsessed with becoming a petty nanny-state, where we can't be trusted to use our own brains. 

Drama frequently depicts characters breaking the law. Because that's the bloody point! It's why it's called "drama". Are smokers considered a bigger threat to our fragile sensibilities than thieves, rapists and murderers, staple ingredients of our most reliable product, the police detective drama?

We've been talking recently about UK to US remakes. Well thank goodness Life on Mars scraped through, because Gene Hunt would have been stuffed. Not to mention Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous, or Donna and Janet in Two Pints.

I am really annoyed. I think I need a fag ... 

It's been that way for years here in California.  Can't smoke on public beaches, within 100 feet of a public park or school, enclosed public places, in bars or restaurants, the California Senate has approved a measure that will impose $100 fines for smoking while driving with children young enough to have to ride in child-safety seats, there's legislation pending that will prohibit smoking in the home if a child is present...soon it will be banned in all public places or made illegal period.

Quoting JonM:

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Quoting 8ballMax:

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It's been that way for years here in California.  Can't smoke on public beaches, within 100 feet of a public park or school, enclosed public places, in bars or restaurants, the California Senate has approved a measure that will impose $100 fines for smoking while driving with children young enough to have to ride in child-safety seats, there's legislation pending that will prohibit smoking in the home if a child is present...soon it will be banned in all public places or made illegal period.

Which is all good. I do welcome it. But in California, does it extend to smoking on film?

I'm sure it's in the works.

I seem to be the minority, but Tucson, that is in Arizona, started its smoking ban in May, and I am happy for it.  My wife is deathly allergic to smoke and it has made going out to any of our favorite places including the local comedy club impossible.  Now that the ban is in effect we are enjoying going out again.  I lived in Cape May NJ which had a law that made it illegal to smoke in your car unless your windows were up, and if you had kids in the car it was criminal endangerment to smoke with the windows up.  I am a former smoker of 13 years and I believe that it is time for the world to make smokers take notice of how rude they can be.  I have always tried to be a considerate smoker and I know even I have failed.  To the contrary I am graduating from the U of A on Thursday and I can tell you I have had college students blow smoke in my face more than once since I started attending.  I know a few bad eggs ruin it for all, but smoking really is bad for the smoker and all those around them.

my cousinand his wife lives in a Castle - well very big house - 43 rooms and 19 toilets - anyway they open there house to visitors every year for a few months to help with the upkeep and they've been told that as its classed as a public area they can't smoke.

ITS THERE FRAGING HOME !!!!!!!

work that out

Quoting rorschach999:

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my cousinand his wife lives in a Castle - well very big house - 43 rooms and 19 toilets - anyway they open there house to visitors every year for a few months to help with the upkeep and they've been told that as its classed as a public area they can't smoke.

ITS THERE FRAGING HOME !!!!!!!

work that out

Actually IIRC this also applies to anyone who hires a cleaner or has workmen in to do modifications to their home... they're not allowed to smoke whist the workmen/cleaners are there or 24 hours before they arrive. Totally OTT and unenforcible IMO and if it's not enforcible then what's the point of the law?

Quoting whispering:

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Quoting Squirrelecto:

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I'm an ex smoker. I was a heavy smoker and gave up nearly 2 years ago by using nicotine gum (fantastic invention). I support the public ban. It will help more people confront their addiction and should result in more people giving up.

The more the try to restrict my ways of life, the less i want to quit.

Well we are all different, but for me, the fact that I couldn't smoke in so many places used to sit there at the back of my mind, quietly nagging me and after a while it got to me. This was before our smoking ban (which doesn't come into effect until tomorrow).

I thought it was ridiculous that I couldn't go more than 2 hours at work without having to go outside for a cigarette, that even short flights on airplanes were tremendously uncomfortable because I couldn't smoke, that I could not stand watching a film anywhere else but my own home because I didn't like not smoking while watching a film, that I hated visiting friends and family that didn't smoke because I had to go outside every couple of hours to smoke, etc.

I started to hate the fact that I was addicted to something, that I was out of control of my own life.

Then I had to take a long haul flight to the US and that was the straw that broke the camel's back. I panicked about how I was going to cope with a 10-11 hour flight, plus the 1-2 hours of time on top of that when you are in the part of the airport where you can't smoke. I picked up some Nicorette nicotine gum, fully expecting it not to work. But once I got the hang of chewing it correctly, I didn't feel like smoking at all.

An out and out ban means that smokers will find it even more difficult to smoke when not in their own home and the vast majority, who do want to give up according to all the polls, will have more impetus to quit and be less tempted to return to smoking once they have quit. There is nothing worse than having recently given up smoking and going to a pub, only to be surrounded by people smoking. After a few drinks, you have to be extremely strong willed not to want to have a cigarette.

Quoting Squirrelecto:

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I guess a lot of it is "cultural diffrences". Here you cant really smoke anywhere inside. Doesnt matter if its at a friends home who smokes, people still smoke outside. At work, its always been outside at coffee/lunch breaks. I've also always gone few meters away from bus stops when i smoke, which is just showing consideration to others. The things that 8ballMax mentioned not smoking while driving with children and not smoking in the home if a child is present are just common sence.

Now they banned smoking in bars, although i dont go to bars that much, i wouldnt care if they just made smoking rooms where you could go and also take your beer in it too while you smoke. So that no one spikes it. But no, they dont want to make a mutual solutions. Though now its not that big thing, cause usually people drink outside anyway as its summer. But when the -10 C winter comes, with bars that dont let you back in when you go out, i see problems.

But these new laws, of which point isnt to find a mutual solution to non smokers and smokers. Their more like a witch hunt, testing just how far to the corner they can drive 20% of the population (in Finland). When i rent an apartment i always wanted it to have a balcony, where i can smoke. Now, their trying to make that illegal too. Their trying to make companys as non smoking, so i couldnt go outside for a smoke in my coffee breaks. Trying to make it illegal to smoke outside anywhere.

As for nicorette products, the gum makes my throat feel like its swelling. Inhalators are much better, and i used them when i was doing my military service, as you couldnt go out for a smoke when you wanted. But i've tryed to quit with them few times compleatly, and its not easy at all.

If any non smokers want to know what it feels like when you try to quit smoking, try fasting (though you should first find out if its suitable and good for your body). Because that is a lot like what it feels like. Nicotine is a treacherous alkaloid, it manipulates your body into thinking its something you need. Just trying to bend your mind to think something else then smoking when your quitting is like trying to not think of food when you're starving.