Getting priorities right

Gentlemen,

There was a piece on the news this week that sadly really annoyed me, the subject was the poverty line in this country and how people are unable to support themselves and rely on Food Banks etc to feed themselves and family. The interviewer was chatting to a lady who was out of work and on benefits and complaining that she couldn't pay her bills, rent and buy food yet all of the time she was smoking, I've never smoked but I know the price of cigarettes etc from a mate who smokes and I know its an addiction but how can she complain she has no money yet cigarettes come before food and essentials I also think it was wrong for the interviewer to pick her to chat to because to me she was not the one to be chatted to because of her habit.

Martin P

You are not wrong Martin. Smoking is a sure way to shorten your life and affect childrens growth in the womb. Even though widely advertised the details are it sems not being noticed. I have seen people pay more for cigarettes than they do for fuel in the petrol stations.

Passive smoking another big thing, subjected to it while working and then in later years having bronchial related problems. Cigarette smke destroys surfaces and makes everything go brown.

There are more than 600 carcinogens in a cigarette! Take heed.

Martin,

I agree your comments but as an ex smoker, believe me, it's hell trying to kick a powerful addiction and that was ordinary baccy. Apparently, wacky baccy and all the other so called recreational drugs are much, much harder to give up. That interviewee should be offered assistance to give up.

John

You can't help some people

Tony

The fault of the interviewer was failing to bring up that point. Same with the people who shout 'you've got to give up xyz to save the planet for my 5 children'. There was someone on the R4 news on my way to work talking about having been homeless with his huge number of children. All I could think was how irresponsible it is to have children when you cannot guarantee to provide for them.

Putting aside the problem of heavy smokers for a moment. How is the issue of people with multiple jobs needing to access foodbanks tackled?

Apparently, many working-class people/families are only a few paychecks away from homelessness these days.

Martin.

When you are as bad a nicotine addict as i was where you would forgo food to buy smokes because the withdrawal symptoms were worse than hunger pangs ,it is very easy to fall into that rut and you begin to live a life that is totally controlled by that addiction .

I tried 4 times to quit the longest time lasted 12 months and it wasn't until my doctor prescribed some medication that i finally broke free from the damned things , i now cannot stand to be near someone that is smoking as i get headaches from it and have to leave the area . What irritates me the most is the government ( yours , mine and everyone else's) prey on these addicts for revenue , they should just ban it like all other addictive drugs and stop making money from others misery . Yes i know about the black market supply of tobacco and another strange thing is how is it legal to buy cigarettes but you can't grow your own tobacco - well not here in OZ as far as i know - only one thing can explian it - it can't be taxed .

Here in OZ we were trialling a benefits card where those on the dole could only buy food and pay rent etc on this card - they didn't get money deposited to their bank account just to this card but they circumnavigated that by buying food and re selling to pensioners cheaply for alcohol , drugs and smokes - true you just can't help some people no matter how hard you try !

20 to 40 a day for 35 years, cracked it with vaping about 7 years ago but still a serious addict

Gave up the weed 40 years ago, just stopped no alternatives just will power. For the people shouting poverty it is not just smoking, there’s the must have 50 inch tv, the car to get Jimmy to school, the mobile to keep everybody uptodate on Facebook etc. Worked with a guy a few years ago, trying to save for a house deposit, mentioned in passing his 40 quid a month phone contract x2, how could he do without it!! Come on brexit, let’s live on the seasons produce instead of the latest must eat from the other side of the world.

Dead on, Howard.

Internet connection is going to be a fiver a week, telly is three a week, smokes might be twenty, the cheapest car is going to be a tenner each week - probably before driving it - unless old enough for free of ‘road fund tax’. That is without replacement costs of new kit to keep up with the latest fads. That lot is already way over what food needs to cost.

Unfortunately ‘keeping up with the Jones’ and following all the latest (rapidly changing) fashions’ should not be compatible with a ‘living on social’ lifestyle, but many get away with it for years on end - even a lifetime for some!

Friend of mine is a self-employed builder, he was complaining the other day about how difficult it is to get young lads for labour at the moment – not because there aren’t any of them but because they all seem to think they should be on £15 an hour.

He said most of them spend half their pay before they even get home every day; 2x packs of smokes per day, then lunch and drinks/snacks/magazines etc

I gave up smoking in 2000, using just will power assisted by bags of salted peanuts when in the pub.Cigarettes are now about 50 EACH, so I'm really glad I stopped. even though I could probably still afford it, unlike the people mentioned above.

Road Fund Tax/License is long gone and has been replaced by Excise duty. While the Road Fund tax was FOR road maintenance, the amount of Excise Duty spent on the roads is miniscule. Some of the roads around here look as if they have been transplanted from a third world country.

That is why I put it in parentheses - and that, for cars of that vintage and older, it was still referred to as that, even though the revenue was not all used for roads for decades before they changed its name.

For many years, revenue from cigarettes was deemed to exceed the cost of NHS care, so the government could not care two hoots as long as they were voted in. Perhaps priorites have changed in that area, too.

I tried to give up smoking several times before trying Champix. I had serious doubts while I was taking it but in the end Champix made it easy to give up. I’ve recommended it to several folks who couldn’t stop thanking me for the advice after they’d given up smoking by taking it.

The irony being that if cigarettes were a brand new product being brought to the market today, they wouldn't be allowed to be sold. They're a known cause of cancer and addictive.

It did. From a financial perspective, tobacco is brilliant. On average, smokers spend their working lives paying lots of extra tax before dropping dead just before or after retirement age. Most smoking related deaths are dirt cheap compared with, for example, a decade of care or more due to declining general health or senility. Best of all the deceased doesn't get a pension! Smokers should get a medal for services to society.

I'm very much in favour of reducing the burden placed on society by old people. (They are far more costly than youngsters on Benefit.) Brexit will allow us to take stern measures against these wasters. Don't panic, most of you are safe - I define 'old' as being 5 years older than me ...

Dave

Gave up smoking 40 years ago. Got up one morning and said that's it. Never had or wanted another. It is not an easy thing for many people to do I know. I had an incentive as my mother had just been diagnosed with lung cancer. She had smoked since the age of 14.

I never used chewing gum or sweets to help as many do. Also I am very stubborn so I suppose that helped as well. Many ppl use it as a crutch because of their unfortunate circumstances. More help is needed for ppl who want to give up.

I cannot understand this vape thing. People using them are not really giving up dragging chemicals into their lungs. As far as I can see its a lame excuse to say I don't smoke.

The annoying thing about it is most vapers think they are entitled top stand near some one else and envelope them in an evil smelling cloud far in excess of what a cigarette puts out. Have you seen the huge clouds of smoke coming out of a vapers car ?

Probably going to upset a few ppl with those comments but that's my opinion.

regards

From forty a day to zero, 6.15pm 20th August 2002. Despite being a heavy smoker for forty odd years only inducement I had was the statement from the Sarf African lady doctor "Stop smoking and you will have a 50% less chance of having another heart attack, carry on smoking and you will DIE"

To all those who think they need tabs pills etc. You need to WANT to stop, pills and potions are just a crutch. Anyone telling me I would go cold turkey, I would have laughed at them, used to say I would stop when I wanted to and hoped nobody would challenge that.

I have never and never would criticize anyone smoking, cos I used to enjoy my fags, and don't forget, there's a surcharge added to each packet that is SUPPOSED to go directly to the NHS.

Regards Ian.

I now save a fortune on not smoking. I stopped in 2003 but then a heart attack and a week in hospital not being able to smoke for that week I came out and have not touched one since.I certainly have noticed the difference

I have a mobile phone but is on the cheapest tariff that I can get of £7.50 a month as it gets very little use and mainly is for emergencies.

My wife now uses one of those electronic cigarettes I have notice the difference as she does not cough as much as she use to OK it would be nice if she stopped using that as well but tiny steps are better than no steps.