And The DoH Survey Said...

According to a Department Of Health survey 90% of people know there’s a smoking ban coming, but only 50% of people know the exact date of its introduction.

I don’t find it alarming that these people could not name July 1^st, as all too often we bury our head in the sands where upcoming dates are concerned, but then they hit us in the face and are here, and we have to react as there’s just no choice..

What is disturbing is that nearly 10% of people didn’t know it’s coming. Where have these people been? Unless they have surveyed housebound people with no visitors or those without a television, radio or access to newspapers, then I am seriously worried about this ridiculous lack of knowledge. Well wake up because it’s coming – like it or not.

The Government has prepared an advertising campaign where the sorts of places which will be smoke free will be demonstrated. I look forward to this campaign and the doubtless laughable way they try to get the message across. I mean look at the drink/driving adverts. They are pretty poor even though they are trying to get across a serious message.

The other interesting statistics to come out of the survey are that more than twice as many people said they are more likely to go to the pub more often after July 1^st than those who said they were less likely. Hopefully these figures will prove to be correct as I really don’t want pubs to suffer. I want them to flourish unlike what many are predicting. Presumably smokers and non smokers were surveyed. There is no reason for a smoker to visit the pub less. They manage not to smoke now whilst on buses, trains, in shops, in the office and at a plethora of other places. They’ll cope when down the pub I’m sure.