BBC presenter admits: "I am an anti-smoker"

I was on Call Kaye, the BBC Radio Scotland phone-in this morning.

It was, ahem, a lively 30 minutes during which we discussed the BMA's call to ban smoking in all private vehicles.

My fellow guest was perky Miranda Watson, director of communications at the British Lung Foundation.

Towards the end of an occasionally heated discussion, presenter Kaye Adams admitted what I have known for many years. She is an anti-smoker.

Pity she didn't mention that at the beginning of the programme.

Comments

[chas]

I was brought up in London and endured my father's chain smoking, smoke being blown into the room from an open fire and riding my bike to work in the London smogs of the 1950s. I have no health problems. I do not believe that a healthy child would be harmed from a little bit of second hand smoke, and believe that if a child has health problems the parents would not smoke near the child.

[Belinda]

You did well Simon but I don't think you challenged Miranda about how she *knew* that cigarette smoke had caused all those child hospitalisations ... especially in the light of the above post when most kids growing up in the fifties had coal or wood fires in the house as well as people smoking everywhere.

[Phil Johnson]

To be fair Simon, I listened to the programme and was absolutely appalled at the way 'callKaye' treated you as opposed to Miranda 'wotsherface'. It was blatantly obvious she was an anti smoker and didn't really want any pro choice competition. She mentioned the exhaust pipe/cigarette notion from Dr Noble but did not want to hear the obvious truth stated on her programme.
With the second knockback Simon, I'm afraid that I would have simply said "sorry Kaye, it is perfectly obvious that you only want a one sided debate" and put the phone down. Fair play to you for battling on.

[Cherie]

You did very well Simon. Hopefully it was obvious to more people than smokers just how biased she was. She asked Miranda about the exhaust pipe scenario and listed intently at her answers, but would not listen to your response and shut you down. That's fascism for you. Those witches made me so angry.

Incidently, I've been harrassing my local MP here in Perth (West Aust) about these smoking bans. In response to her not agreeing that smokers are now isolated at home with nowhere to socialise, she said there's plenty of occasions and environments where smokers can go. I'm awaiting her response to my assertions of: pubs - out, zoo - out, Royal Show - out, cafes/restaurants - out, concerts - out, outdoor events - out, sporting events - out, beach - out, education facilities - out. So tell me, where can smokers actually go to socialise with friends and a drink and smoke?

Cherie