I grew up with Archie Macpherson.
He was a BBC Scotland football commentator – a good one at that – when I lived in Fife and later Aberdeen.
In 1987 he was the commentator when my team Dundee United beat Barcelona at the Nou Camp, winning a Uefa Cup quarter-final 3-1 on aggregate.
Macpherson's joy when United scored twice in the final minutes to win the tie is one of my favourite football moments.
How sad then that younger generations will only know him for what he calls a "visceral hatred of anybody who smokes".
Not just smoking, note, but "anybody who smokes". That's a hell of a lot of people – one million in Scotland alone.
I don't suppose he likes people who defend smokers either.
According to a report on STV last night Macpherson was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2013 "as a direct result of breathing in other people's smoke".
I have sympathy for anyone suffering from cancer but these comments take anti-smoking propaganda to a new low.
According to Cancer Research UK, "Doctors and scientists don't know exactly what causes kidney cancer but some things do increase the risk."
One of those things, says CRUK, is smoking but other factors include high blood pressure and "faulty genes and inherited conditions". Passive smoking isn't mentioned although I suppose some would argue that smoking and passive smoking are the same thing. (It's not.)
Meanwhile here's another Macpherson quote, from 2013:
“There is no doubt that the smoking ban is the greatest piece of public legislation that’s been passed anywhere in the world.
“The ban on smoking in public places must go on and we must find some other ways, even in this era of human rights legislation and whatever, of terrorising smokers.”
How appropriate is that?
Yesterday STV News tweeted a short interview with Macpherson (see below).
Curiously they haven't tweeted or posted last night's news report that included a (very) brief soundbite from me concerning the public's support for separate smoking rooms.
I'll post it later when we've uploaded the clip on to YouTube.
WATCH: My Story: Archie Macpherson and the smoking ban anniversary https://t.co/mFZfUAdd8x
— STV News (@STVNews) March 23, 2016