From: "Phil Payne" 

> Things like smoking in the house.
>
> http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2007010264,00.html
>
> ANGRY Jeanette Gordon-Crawley and her husband hit out yesterday over plans
> to probe their smoking habits at home.
>
> Council chiefs have told the couple they face a health investigation after
> a neighbour claimed fumes from their ciggies were invading her living
> room.

That one made the headlines all over the UK.

The smoking clampdown has a momentum all of its own.  It started with the
Kings Cross tube fire, which was supposedly caused by a discarded cigarette
igniting fluff below an escalator.  Most of the "fluff" in the
Underground is actually dead human skin, and there are teams of people
called "fluffers-out" who spend their nights collecting it while
the system is shut down.  They're ably assisted by mice - if you're ever
waiting on a Tube platform, go to the end near a tunnel entrance, gaze at
the track and let your eyes defocus.  Usually within a few seconds you'll
see movement.

So Underground stations went non-smoking.  Then it spread to Birmingham New
Street station, which is technically underground.  Then to other stations.

With effect from 1 January, all Midland Mainline stations are non-smoking.
The trains have been for some years.  On 1 October the minimum age for
buying tobacco products goes up from 16 to 18.

But I think the story is less a comment on smoking than it is about the
build quality of social housing.

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5