[West Ender]

That's an example of the brain-washing of the British Public. The anti-smoking ethos started in the USA, where the combustion engine is King. They couldn't blame respitory diseases on cars and general air-pollution so the expendible culprit must be, exclusively, tobacco. When America sneezes Britain catches a cold so we had to follow suit. That's not to say that smoking isn't a health risk but it's not the only one.

The message has been hammered into the skulls of Britons so successfully that it has produced paranoia amongst many people. The mother who becomes hysterical if cigarette smoke comes within 6 feet of her child will, happily, push that child round in a buggy - at exhaust pipe level - for an afternoon's shopping.

I'm not anti-ban or pro-smoking but the whole issue has become irrational.