Are young people quietly rebelling against the anti-smoking killjoys?
Friday, December 15, 2023 at 18:47 Nigel Farage, 59, wasn't the only smoker among the cast of I'm A Celebrity 2023.
After surviving 23 days deprived of food, hot showers and a flushable toilet, Sam Thompson emerged from the I’m a Celebrity jungle desperate for one thing … a drag on a cigarette.
The 31-year-old Made in Chelsea star puffed away at the show’s wrap party and joined a long list of cool kids who love to light up.
Interestingly, the article – Why smoking is back in fashion for Generation Z – coincides with the publication of a study this week that suggests that 'more young people in England took up smoking during the pandemic, stagnating the years-long decline among 18 to 24-year-olds'.
At 31, Thompson is a Millennial rather than Gen Z, but he's arguably still indicative of something I wrote as part of my recent Letter on Liberty, 'Freedom: Up In Smoke?'.
Commenting on young people smoking, I quoted a story recorded by a student at Trinity College, Dublin:
Walking into campus through the Arts Block one morning, I was confronted by a screen declaring Trinity a ‘tobacco-free campus’. Not only was I surprised, having not heard this once in my six months of studying here, but my confusion was further justified once I walked past the arts block and saw the revolving cast of smokers standing outside. Trinity may declare itself tobacco free, but it is certainly not in practice.
Meanwhile, I added:
The Tab Student Smoking Survey 2021 revealed that ‘52 per cent of students who took our survey say they smoke cigarettes’. That surprised me, but one explanation (other than the fact that it was a self-selecting poll) may be that many students are social smokers - they can’t afford to be heavy smokers, nor are they addicted to smoking. Despite the health concerns about smoking … there remains a quiet rebellion among the young against the killjoys who want to dictate how we live our lives.
When I wrote that back in July I also had in mind some recent experiences of my own. For example, when I spoke at a small event at Edinburgh University in April, my host, an undergraduate, insisted that smoking is far from uncommon among students.
Others, also in their early twenties, have said pretty much the same thing to me, and I’ve seen it with my own eyes too.
I'm not suggesting, as the Independent would have us believe, that 'smoking is back in fashion for Generation Z', but I do think that the more the Government and the humourless anti-smoking industry continues with its war on smoking, the cooler it will be to smoke.
That's just human nature, and it's why the generational ban on the sale of tobacco will almost certainly prove counter-productive.
Ban the sale of tobacco to new generations of adults and smoking will instantly gain the allure of forbidden fruit.
The Government clearly hasn't thought this through but as Ella Whelan, editor of Letters on Liberty, said at our recent Nanny State of the Nation event:
"I think Rishi Sunak might not have met many young people ... I also know that young people haven't lost their rebellious spirit."
I think she’s right. And if it’s true (stats vary) that the decline in smoking rates among young adults has stalled, banning the sale of tobacco to that same demographic could be the most provocative thing any government could do to a generation that doesn’t expect or wish to be told how to live their lives.
Update: Chris Snowdon has commented on the smoking rate story here. I think he’s sceptical.
My response to the apparent contradiction between smoking rates flatlining and tobacco sales falling during the same period is that the cost of cigarettes and hand rolled tobacco may be forcing smokers to purchase less, legally at least.
Also, and this is pure speculation on my part, but my guess is that many smokers in their twenties are not habitual smokers but occasional social smokers.
The combination of the two would therefore explain what to Chris seems an inconsistent anomaly.
Ultimately, though, what matters is that adults of all ages have the right to purchase tobacco if they want to. Whether smoking rates are going up, in decline, or flatlining, is irrelevant.
All you can be sure of is that the tobacco control industry will spin any study to its advantage. On that I do agree with Chris.
Below: Ella Whelan speaking last month
Reader Comments (4)
"Revolting cast of smokers..."?
It is a shame that casual abuse appears to be in fashion from those with a superiority complex who look down on others to make themselves feel more worthy. That's not cool at all. Abusive bullies have never been cool.
Maybe today's youth are sick of their own generation of hypocrites who preach one love except for those people who don't like the same things that they do.
“Revolving cast of smokers” not “revolting”!
"Are young people quietly rebelling against the anti-smoking killjoys?"
It's certainly what I did, but I only had my Mum's old gardening books to question their dubious science. They have the internet.
In the end the discord between my wider knowledge of the nightshades compared to their obvious propaganda led me to believe that they were hiding something.
There was only one way to find out.
😂 glad to be corrected here however, young people do tend to be bullied for smoking by other young people.
I recall once listening to a group of students talking. One of them came in from outside and clearly smelled of smoke enough for one of the female students to berate him. She launched into a weird tirade about how the smell of smoke was the emphysema coming out of the smoker and they that spread it around.
So I still think that maybe the young generation of smoker is rebelling against their own generation of hypocrites.
What disturbed me most about that incident was the thought of who on earth teaches kids that stuff?