Ominous Headlines

From the BBC

Who are the smokers that haven't quit?

Who? Who are they? Where can we find them? They must be found

Well I for one, am a smoker who hasn't quit. I'm also a smoker who does not intend to quit and enjoys smoking a great deal. I'm here BBC, yoohoo! GFY

In 1974, almost half of all adults in the UK smoked. For many, spending time in smoke-filled homes, pubs and workplaces was simply a part of daily life.

I was clearly born at the wrong time. A part of daily life for smokers now, is standing outside in the British weather

But some people remain much more likely to smoke than others.

The article then drifts on to a load of divvel about poor, pregnant, manual workers with mental illnesses, you know, the type of folk who desperately need the help of their betters

In recent years, the UK has introduced policies that appear to have helped many smokers quit and deterred others from starting.

None of the Governments anti-smoking measures have 'helped' smokers quit, they have bullied smokers into quitting. There's a big difference

The smoking ban was introduced in 2007

Closing an unprecedented number of pubs and putting thousands of people, myself included, out of work

Taxes on a £10 pack of 20 cigarettes have increased to over 80% of the retail price

Vastly increasing the black market and the number of people who buy their tobacco abroad, reducing tax revenues and making tobacco a much less regulated market

Wales is targeting a 16% smoking rate by 2020, while the Scottish government aims to create a "tobacco-free" generation by 2034 and Northern Ireland is also aiming to eradicate smoking altogether, in addition to England's pledge to end smoking by 2030.

These are people who are supposed to work for us, but long have they been our masters who will use force against us to ensure we live our lives as we are told

Stop-smoking services providing support and medication have also been offered nationwide, contributing to the fall in overall smoking rates.

Stop smoking services are in decline because hardly anyone is bothering to use them anymore. If people want to quit now, they have the option of using e-cigs, which are much nicer and help more people quit than patches and gum
What is more likely is that the remaining smokers smoke because they want to

Yet they have been less effective for poorer and mentally ill smokers, even if they are as likely to try to quit as other groups.The reasons for this are varied and complex.

Oh do tell...

These groups can have higher levels of dependence, making it harder to give up.

Nicotine is more addictive to poor people?

They are also more likely to be around other smokers, normalising the behaviour

It is normal

They may also have to deal with stress factors such as income instability, poor housing and living in run‐down neighbourhoods.

So will making them quit the fags, make them less stressed or more stressed?

At the same time, stop-smoking services, which appear to have helped reduce inequalities, have disappeared in many areas, with an estimated 30% funding cut in England between 2014-15 and 2017-18 .

The point I made earlier. The funding has not been cut because of evil Tory austerity, it's because the services aren't being used enough to justify the layout

For these reasons, a different approach may be needed.

The BBC is not a news service, it's a left wing lobby group. But you already knew that. Let's see what new and innovative ideas they have to force people to give up the deadly weed

Free, tailored individual support, including advice, mobile stop-smoking services and online resources, has been shown to be effective, as have financial incentives such as making cigarettes more expensive and offering smokers cash to quit.

Price increases appear to work best in combination with support such as counselling and smoking alternatives such as electronic cigarettes or nicotine patches.

So nothing then. More of the same services that people are no longer bothering with, plus more tax which is already happening and give smokers free money which has been proposed many times

Why is this so important?

Again, do tell

Reducing smoking among the most disadvantaged is one of the most important ways to reduce health inequalities.

I don't get this 'Health Inequalities' business. Why do the Left think everyone has to be equal? Encouraging richer people to take up smoking would also reduce 'Health Inequalities'.

Alongside shortening life expectancy through disease and illness, smoking can also negatively affect mental health.

Giving up is associated with reduced depression, anxiety and stress, while boosting overall quality of life.

Seriously? I've always found that doing something I like helps my mental health, reduces anxiety and stress and boosts my overall quality of life. Being told I cannot do something I like would have the opposite effect

On top of this, smoking is expensive and can trap people into cycles of poverty.

That's because it's taxed so much, you blithering idiot! Reduce the tax to a fair level and it would not trap people in cycles of (defined in rich western societies) poverty

While far fewer people smoke now than in the past, there are still seven million smokers in the UK.

I salute you, the seven million. And all the others Nanny doesn't know about

Studies suggest most long-term smokers die from a smoking-related disease.

'Suggest'. 'Most'. Very scientific. When? At what age? What disease? Was it cause by smoking? When is an acceptable age to die?

Every year in England, 80,000 people die from the effects of smoking, making it the number one risk factor for ill health and early death.

With more than 200 deaths per day, this is equivalent to a plane crashing every day.

No it bloody well isn't. If a plane crashed every day, we could say, "All those people were killed in plane crashes". As for smoking, all we can say is, suggest, might, could, possible, related, earlier, etc.

When a plan crashes, most people on board will be under the age of seventy. Most average smokers who die are over the age of seventy and may, possibly, might just have lost a few years of additional life through their smoking

This analysis piece was commissioned by the BBC from an expert working for an outside organisation.

Dr Leonie Brose is a senior lecturer at the National Addiction Centre, King's College London.

She's also a muppet