Category — Smoking Ban

An event being held to document the History of Smoking called The Big Smoke. It looks great. Here’s more information about it below. It includes history about tobacco, cigarettes, cigars, pipes, the bans and the culture surrounding smoking. Plenty of smoking facts!

Did you know that road traffic accidents in London kill less than 1 person each day, while smoking cigarettes kills 1 Londoner every hour? Or that cigarette butts account for 40% of the litter on London’s streets? Despite these bleak statistics 2 million Londoners regularly light up to enjoy a cigarette. One year on from the smoking ban, The Big Smoke looks at the history of smoking in London and life in the capital since the ban.

On 1 July 2007 smoking was banned in all public places throughout England. It was greatly debated, widely publicised and much opposed. The small display looks at the implications of the ban, from those that welcomed it, those that suffered as a result of it and the extra measures taken by others to deal with it. Don’t miss the tube containing one week’s worth of cigarette butts collected in the City of London from one square mile of stressed-out City workers.

From ornate smoking pipes to distinctive cigarette adverts, the display will use objects and images from the Museum of London’s collections to chart the history of smoking from the first introduction of tobacco to London to the present day, following changes in attitude over the centuries. The Big Smoke will also showcase the varying opinions on the current smoking ban and show its effects on London, its businesses and people.

London was the centre of the tobacco trade from its first introduction to Britain in the mid 16th century. Walter Raleigh, the Elizabethan explorer, became a committed pipe-smoker and popularised the habit of smoking. By 1614 there were 7000 tobacconist’s shops in the London area, hitting the height of popularity in the 19th century. From the 1880s machines were pumping out cigarettes at a rate of 300 per minute – tobacco companies used advertising to encourage mass consumption of this product and a national cigarette-smoking habit was born.

Pictures of glamorous film stars, Victorian gentlemen and smoky singers illustrate that smoking had become an integral part of everyday life; the government used cigarettes in public information campaigns, tiny toy cigarettes were made for doll’s houses and the House of Commons had their own brand of smokes.

Curator Meriel Jeater says, ‘London has been a centre of the tobacco trade and consumption for 400 years and this topical display will look at how attitudes to smoking have altered over this time. The recent ban on smoking in public places is causing widespread changes and this display will showcase Londoners’ opinions on the ban and how it is affecting their city. For some people the new legislation is the final prompt they needed to quit smoking. For others it is ruining their businesses. We want to know what Londoners think.’

Following the discovery that smoking was linked to diseases such as lung cancer it soon became clear that smoking was seriously bad for your health. Slowly attitudes towards smoking began to change and the display highlights an emergence of anti-smoking campaigns; from the health warnings on cigarette packets to the introduction of a smoking ban. A ban would certainly help protect the health of those around the smokers but would it help smokers break their habit?

The Big Smoke runs from 1 July to 21 September 2008 and is free.

For more information or images, please contact Stacey Witter on 020 7814 5511 or switter@museumoflondon.org.uk

Museum of London is one of the largest urban museums in the world. It is currently redeveloping its lower galleries to retell the story of London and Londoners from 1666 to the present day. The £20.5 million project will revitalize the galleries and create a glass window overlooking London Wall. The new galleries will open in spring 2010 with significantly increased access to the Museum’s collections, both in the galleries and online, and will also include a new Clore Learning Centre, a theatre and The Sackler Hall containing an information and coffee point. Find out more about supporting this project at www.museumoflondon.org.uk

Throughout the redevelopment work, visitors will continue to be able to discover the city’s many incarnations in the London before London, Roman London, and Medieval London galleries, together with London’s Burning, the Great Fire of London 1666, and a series of topical exhibitions. A full programme of activities and events for all ages, bringing London’s past and present to life, will continue.

Finally i’ve found some time to write about this news item. As of the 1st July 2008 all mental hospitals will be fully smoke-free. This is in stark contrast to prisons which for some reason are exempt of this. I think this an outrage.

Normally i’m strictly no smoking, it’s bad for you and the people around you, yadda yadda. But this is another story in the news where i compelled to go against my stance and complain the other way round (the other one being about needing a smoking license).

I happen to have experienced life in a mental hospital first hand as a patient, i’m not ashamed to admit it, it wasn’t fun but it got me better. I’ve rebuilt my life after those dark times and now it’s quite frankly rosy at the moment. I myself turned to smoking roll ups in there. Why? I don’t know i was rather ill. But smoking is like a form of security, of normality as it were. You go in smoky room with others and it’s almost therapeutic and you feel you belong to the other group of smokers, a simple stress relieving right. Without a shadow of a doubt the smoking room was the busiest room in the hospital. Your symptoms multiplied by the side effects of medication means that smoking is a sanctuary away from your situation. Put it this way i certainly wouldn’t want patients to be bereft of this freedom.

70% of mental health patients are smokers. That’s a lot of people’s liberties taken away! Also lets point out that it isn’t just the patients that use the smoking rooms. The staff are as much frequent smokers as they are.

I really feel for the patients after 1st July. Mental episodes are stressful enough without this being enforced.

BBC – Smoking ban in mental hospitals

A government health advisory body has come up with a plan for a license required in order to buy tobacco. As anti-smoking as i am this is a show of amazing gall by the governement. Shouldn’t they be called a wealth advisory body instead?

The idea is that in order for already disgruntled smokers to be able to buy tobacco they would need a £10 permit. This increased level of taxation is crazy and there’ll be some serious outcry from the pro-smoking groups. The permit would also require a photo too. It reminds me of photo-fit for jail… maybe that’s the next step!

It’s certainly another sneaky tactic to help smokers with that final urge to quit but is this bureaucracy gone too far?

Licensed to smoke – BBC News

Flouting of the smoking ban has caused Hugh Howitt be fined £500, the first in the country. Hugh, from Blackpool, wasn’t stopping his patrons from smoking at both his bars. Howitt is very much against the smoking ban and has his own political party called Fags. This stands for Fight Against Government Suppression. Howitt has also gone to the effort of creating massive banners. Some of them say: “Smoker’s Rights”, “Empty Pubs, Empty Streets” and “Cig Heil!”.

He’s certainly defiant and i’m sure he has many followers. Even though this is a primarily anti smoking site i admire his efforts… standing for what he believes. I just feel sorry for his non-smoking clientèle which just want a drink… if he has any?

Read more about the first landlord fined on the BBC. See his UK Fags site.

From tomorrow all licensed venues in South Australia will see the smoking ban come into effect for inside areas. Anyone found smoking in these areas will risk getting a $95 fine. Similar to our laws over in the UK, licensees can see fines of $1200 or more for smoking breaches. What, however, isn’t the same as the UK is that outside areas are almost actively encouraged to be used. This puts across a false message that it’s OK to smoke as long as it’s outside.