Today : Smoke gets in your eyes, but not for much longer

In the late 1970s my parents used to take us on family camping holidays. They were the best holidays of all. The Yorkshire Dales countryside felt like a world away from home, despite only being about 45 minutes drive from our house.

My favourite memories are of Appletreewick, a picturesque village in the Yorkshire Dales. Apart from being the destination for our family's holiday, Appletreewick was a place famous for one other thing. The landlord of the local pub, as a reaction to the death of his barmaid from cancer, banned smoking in his pub. It seemed bizarre and caused a minor stir of controversy. The local news would despatch a camera crew and we'd see the landlord being interviewed. He was, of course, a lone poineer.

I imagine he is long dead, which is a shame. Because today he could have switched on the TV and watched the British parliament voting on whether to pass laws that ban smoking in public enclosed spaces.

The total shift in attitudes towards smoking in the past few decades is remarkable. I smoke far more than is good for me yet can't quite believe that we have allowed it to go on so long. It just seems illogical to allow people to inflict their smoke on others. Smoking is becoming more and more marginalised. I predict that in another decade it will seem old-fashioned and strange, like those photos you see of 1950s chrome laden American cars on the streets of Havana.

There are definite civil rights issues to face for smokers. The main area, I think, is health. I am already hearing people condemn smokers to the back of the health queue, which shouldn't be allowed any more than condemning any other other drug addicts to the back of the queue. But for now, lets admit that a public smoking ban is a move forward.

http://smokingsides.com/ is a fascinating site which, amongst other things, has a list of celebrity smokers, including the shocking revelation that Courtney Love likes the odd ciggy.