Bring on the smoking ban

Joy of joys - the smoking ban is upon us. I can't wait. As a singer who's worked in countless bars, venues and clubs, I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to this. The amount of times I've come back from a gig with a nasty tickle at the back of my throat, feeling hoarse - well, no more from 1 July.

Having said that, I'm not one of these "disgusted from Tunbridge Wells" types who wants to hit smokers over the head with a handbag. I don't advocate violence. In fact, I respect the right of smokers to inflict on themselves a slow, tortuous death via furred arteries and whatever else (look, I'm not a scientist). Because, as the pro-smoking lobby keeps saying, they can more than afford to pay for their healthcare - apparently, although they cost the NHS about £1.4bn in treatment, they pay about £10bn in taxes from cigarettes. So. Seems that settles it.

But then there's this argument about the ban "infringing civil liberties". As Antony Worrall-Thompson so eloquently said on the radio today, "It's the nanny state gone barking mad!". Yawn. Change the record. Well, to be fair, I haven't really given the civil liberties thing serious thought - whether it's a slippery slope and all that - because, in this case, it actually suits me, even if it is. And it would seem to suit the majority of the rest of the population as well. So perhaps you could consider it more as a move for the greater good.

Of course, there's always a few stick in the muds, who, even though they agree with the ban, moan about it anyway. "What about all the cigarette ends on the street?!?!?" several concerned callers exclaimed, also on the radio today. Sigh. There's just no pleasing some people.