Lionda

That's a good start

agoreira

That's right, I can remember when they banned it on aircraft, hardened smoker friends were never going to fly again. With the pubs, loads of smokers were telling anyone that would listen, they were never going to the pub again. I personally don't know anyone that stopped flying or going to the pub, all talk.
One of the arguments by the government in a report says that in answer to the sounding of the death knell by hoteliers in Spain, that the introduction of the law in the USA has had no long term effects whatsoever, and the number of clients went up in Ireland by 11%.

HBG

You say Rubbish, but seem to agree with me, and I agree with you. The UK has taken the smoking ban on board, but Spain is a different country. I can't remember the history, was it Raleigh who introduced tobacco to the UK? I think the sneaky Spaniards, apart from getting to the US first, probably brought potatoes and tobacco to Spain long before we did.

If they banned chips as well as tobacco, I would be a lot healthier.

Lionda

Yes I suppose we are in agreement but I am saying that a determined smoker will smoke whatever the obstacles. I laugh when I see them stood outside pubs in the cold and rain. I am sure I wouldn't do the same even if I was a smoker...there are limits

HBG

The trouble is, as you well know, that even in the depths of winter in Spain you can sit outside a Spanish bar in shorts and a tee shirt, puffing away, if you wish. At least in my area, near to the warm sea.

We were in Quesada today, a Brit area to the south of Alicante. Strangely enough, there are no Brit bars where we were, a totally Spanish/Chinese area. The Chinese don’t seem to smoke much, at least not in public.

We had a menu del dia, Salad, Lomo and chips, and chocolate ice cream. Around us, all the Spaniards were smoking. I don’t need to stop smoking on 2nd January, but I seriously need to go on a diet.

Lionda

Well perhaps if everytime you needed to eat you had to sit outside in the cold and rain you would eat less or maybe not Enjoy your food and don't worry about the weight ... just walk to where you go to eat and walk home

HBG

Thanks, we can walk to eat from where we live, and appreciate that we should do, but it limits us to around 30 venues, but if we drive, sky’s the limit.

I was back in the UK last year and had to laugh at the smokers huddled around the dedicated smoking areas. It looked degrading. I’m not an expert, nor do there seem to be many experts around, but it appears to me that you can indeed prolong your life by not smoking; perhaps a few more years in a care home with a non-caring stranger wiping your arse, because you can longer do it yourself.

I don’t know the answer, but I’d rather be dead than have someone wiping my arse.

Chiclanagir

Just don´t ask me to do it!

bil

Yeah, when I get that far gone, god give me the strength to throw myself in front of something fatal....

HBG

I make you right, it's a minimum wage job, A lot of people in the retirement areas do it.

I went out with a lady in Clacton some years ago and eventually she admitted what what she did for a living. I got ever so excited. Modesty forbids me to say any more.

licinius

Have you ever thought of the people who stay away from certain bars because we don't like to choke & actually take a care in our appearance & hate stinking? How many UK pubs saw an increase in trade by banning smoking before it was enforced by law?

I love people like you HBG, those who blame the smoking ban on the decline of pubs in the UK, rather than alcohol duty which makes going out every night totally unaffordable for Joe Bloggs. Then we have skysports & multiroom, even box office in the house.

After working 84 hours during the last week purely to make ends meet, paying council tax, funding the public sector & students who don't want to invest in their own future, is it any wonder that people now opt to get three boxes of lager for £20 from the supermarket & stay home instead?

Roll on the 2nd of Jan, I for one am looking forward to going out & celebrating while you die hard smokers sit home in front of the telly.

cricketman

Who's working 84 hours a week? That's some serious hours

As an ex-student I dont trust people who bash students. Without a good chunk of qualified young people a country will live in the dark ages.

The decision to charge students up to £9k a year for tuition fees means that I will probably never go back to live in the UK ever again. I am ashamed of my country, it becomes more like the US everyday. Everyone for themselves

licinius

Lots of people today (including myself) regularly work 84 hours a week.

Why shouldn't people invest in their own future? The fees are only paid back once you earn £21k so it doesn't prevent anybody from going to university.

I have to invest in my own future & am happy to do so because it reflects in my earnings potential. It would be wrong of me to expect others to pay for training that I benefit financially from. There are some course I would like to do to the value of about £10,000, do you think it fair that the taxpayer picks up the bill even though these qualifications would result in my salary increasing by about £10k per annum?

Student numbers are ever increasing & rising fees won't stop people going to uni.

I agree with your last bit "I am ashamed of my country, it becomes more like the US everyday".

Chiclanagir

You are going off course a bit this is about smoking not student fees. I suggest starting a new thread on this I will gladly throw in my tuppence worth.

cricketman

[QUOTE=licinius;9028008]Lots of people today (including myself) regularly work 84 hours a week.

Why shouldn't people invest in their own future? The fees are only paid back once you earn £21k so it doesn't prevent anybody from going to university.


Student numbers are ever increasing & rising fees won't stop people going to uni.

QUOTE]

I dont know anyone who works 84 hours a week, thats 14 hours a day for 6 days a week, there are laws against that!

I am of the opinion that education is a right not a luxury. I went to uni to improve my knowledge of the world, increasing my salary potential was a secondary thing.

You tell people who come from modest backgrounds that they will leave uni with 50k of debts and they wont go, making Britain even more classist and elite then it already is. Unicef say Britian is the most unequal country in the world with very few people ever breaching the gap between the elite and the "peasants", just look at the ConDem cabinet to see that, all old money.

And £21k is not a high wage for many graduates who will have to go to London to get a job (like I did). So add in another 9% on top of already high taxes and not much is left over. It costs £500-£700 a month just to rent out a room in a shared flat in London. It is only now (at the age of 30) that my friends have been able to live in a 1 bed flat or studio with their partners. It is no suprise that none of my friends have even been able to think about having children yet, and if they leave it much longer, it may be too late. There is a saying in London that only the very rich or the very poor have children, from my experience that is true, and that stinks!