Most smokers want to stop – that’s not changing 4

A common theme of this blog is that smoking is largely a matter of inequality. Now it is time to turn this around and say that action on smoking is a matter of social justice.

Some very good news for 60,000 Scots Reply

The latest annual smoking rate was published today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). 

This suggests that the adult smoking rate in Scotland fell to 17.7%, down from 19.1% in last year’s survey.

Demanding the best for children in our care Reply

Children in Scotland who are “looked after”* are those for whom the local authority has a formal responsibility for their wellbeing. By any reasonable assessment it is clear that wider society has a moral responsibility too.

2 pieces of good news on smoking and mental health Reply

Regular readers of this blog will know that mental health is now a huge part of the environment for smoking and health in Scotland.

At least one third of tobacco used in the UK is by people with mental health issues, and while they are as likely to want to quit, smoking rates remain high in this group and are not declining as fast as in the wider population.

Thoughts on 50,000 fake fags Reply

I was interested to read in the Evening Times the other day that “More than 50,000 cigarettes have been seized on raids clamping down on illegal tobacco in Glasgow”.

Polluters should help fund public health Reply

 

I was interested to read in the papers over the festive season that some researchers have reviewed Scotland’s recent Public Health Supplement and found that while the “supplement” part of the deal delivered a substantive and reliable income, the “public health” element of the scheme was rather lacking.

Scotland’s Tobacco-free Generation – the real freedom agenda 4

The Scottish Government has declared a vision for Scotland to be “tobacco-free”. Some people worry such a shift cannot be delivered by free actions, and will require some form of coercion to drive it along. That’s not how I want to do it – and looking at the numbers we can clearly see that’s not how it has to be.

What would a tobacco-free Scotland look like? Reply

In a post originally appearing on the https://www.commonspace.scot/ site we consider what achieving a tobacco-free society actually means in practice. Largely it means closing the inequality gap.

The “smokers survey” that can’t tell us anything about “smokers” Reply

We hear that FOREST is paying for a survey with the aim “To find out what smokers really think”.

This is a laudable aim – and chimes with an interest of ours.

Time to break the status quo which is killing thousands of people each year 5

Sometimes ignoring a problem doesn’t make it go away. Sometimes the problem will just fester away in the background. It may not get worse, but what if the problem in question is leading to the early deaths of thousands of people each year in Scotland alone?