Life’s a beach so seas the day.

After the culmination of the Second World War, Britain’s beaches probably let out a huge sigh of relief, after constantly being used as minefields and combat zones to contend with the continuous threat of enemy ships and soldiers reaching the shoreline. They weren’t given a moments rest however, as a new menace began to attack soon after, burdening coasts in their millions, armed with deckchairs and windbreakers instead of machine guns and grenades.

This new hazard of course, came in the form of holidaymakers, who flocked to the sea to escape the hustle and bustle of city life. Yet, if they were hoping to find a less claustrophobic lifestyle to what they’re used to with urban living, then they were sadly mistaken, as finding a spare square of sand proved to be a mission in itself. Space was only limited due to the sheer popularity of holidays by the sea back in the 1950s and 60s. The glistening sands and sparkling seas provided a thought to drool over, leading 30 million people vacating to the British seaside year upon year.

Punch and Judy were performing to sell out crowds, piers were creaking under the weight of tourists admiring the coastal view from them, and donkeys were visiting chiropractors after a long hard day of carrying children round on the unforgiving sands. The sea was aplenty with people in bathing suits more reminiscent of the deckchairs they were lounging on only moments earlier. Even the traffic jam en route to the beach was seen as part of the experience, yet it amazes me how they didn’t run out of things to use for I Spy...

Towards the end of the 1960s though this fashion started to crumble, and with the combination of poor weather and deteriorating facilities people started to cast the net out further and go abroad for their summer holidays. This trend has since grown right up to the present day, with package deals and low-cost airlines making international travel more accessible and affordable than ever before.

In 2004 alone, we Brits made 64 million trips abroad, compared to just 4 million in 1961, leaving many beaches across the country empty. I noticed this first hand when I was in Bournemouth on the Saturday of the August bank holiday weekend this year, where there was nobody to be seen. Granted it was an overcast day, but even so it was plain to see how much of a hit Britain’s beaches have taken in terms of popularity. Attractions and amusement arcades were shut many hours earlier than advertised, with Bournemouth more evocative of a ghost town that evening, only the dim lights from the pier suggesting any signs of life.

By the end of the 20th century and at the start of the 21st, this miserable sight was shared amongst most coastal towns. Although, the fact that a trip abroad is no longer seen as a luxury treat but as something that could possibly be enjoyed more than once a year, has started to strangely work in their favour. With everyone finding trips abroad more and more affordable, people are being able to part with some spare cash to enjoy a weekend break on one of Britain’s beaches. This is typically across the Bank Holiday weekends, or fitted into the school holidays, although elder couples are seemingly indulging in a few days by the shore around Autumn time.

Resorts have realised that they are no longer unable to pull in the conventional sunbather or beach lover, so have started to diversify their entertainment in the form of theatre shows and cinema, while also strengthening the nightlife in order to attract younger people and students. This has proved popular with stag and hen dos, and being by the sea no doubt provides people with a bonus activity after a drunken night out, in the form of skinny dipping.

As well as this, seaside towns are also successfully trying to stress the uniqueness of their area in a bid to win more visitors, hoping their character shines through above other rival resorts. For example, Newquay in Cornwall is promoting itself as the “surfing capital of Britain”, as it holds numerous international surfing events throughout the year, actively inviting water sports enthusiasts to test out its mammoth waves. Torbay has also followed suit, making the most of its sandy beaches and coves by building upon its nickname of the “English Riviera”. Meanwhile, Weymouth has been busy underlining its status as Britain’s only natural World Heritage Site, by labelling itself as “the gateway to the Jurassic Coast”.

Do some of you consider holidays a time to just relax and recharge those batteries? I thought so. It’s a good thing that Southwold in Suffolk provides the answer then doesn’t it? With its quiet countryside, love of jazz and peaceful nature, Southwold provides people with an option much less energetic than most.

So while most people would still much prefer to jet off somewhere with guaranteed sunshine, Britain’s coastal resorts are experiencing somewhat of a mini-resurgence through their successful rebranding techniques. Even though some people may not be primarily there to catch a few rays, it is safe to say that the UK has attracted a new breed of tourist.

Who knows, with Britain’s summers getting hotter by the year, some of the holidaymakers who left in the first place might be convinced to tighten their purse strings and stay closer to home in future. I bet if you asked the beaches themselves even they would say they miss the constant blitz of tourists they experienced 60 years ago...

Britain’s Got Controversy 2011

So, another farce rumbles on through talent show history, with Britain’s Got Talent thrust into the spotlight earlier this year after the validity of Ronan Parke’s anonymity before the show was doubted.

Even though it has been furiously denied by Simon Cowell on air and by his music label Syco Entertainment, this latest storm still raises more questions than it does answers. With Mr Cowell being accused of already fixing the victory for Ronan Parke before he even auditioned, this has brought talent shows into further disrepute, with the public wondering whether they are actually fair game for everyone anymore. Even if Ronan isn’t being buttered up for the big time, this does little for Simon Cowell and his host of programmes to try and keep their names clean.

This latest charade wouldn’t be so bad had it not followed a string of previous controversies, both involved in The X Factor and also Britain’s Got Talent. Remember Laura White, a contestant on The X Factor back in 2009? She got booted out of the show for finishing in the bottom two, yet thousands of viewers complained that they couldn’t get through on the phone to register their vote. Laura wasn’t allowed back in the competition, and so many voters felt that she had been cheated out of a chance of winning, especially as she was considered one of the more talented contestants.

In the same year another contestant, Lucie Jones, lost out on the public vote after the judges couldn’t separate her and Jedward. Sounds pretty standard, right? However, Simon cast his vote in favour of Jedward, even after publicly slating them throughout the whole competition, stating that “neither of them could win”. Many people have come to the conclusion that he already knew the lowest placed competitor in the public vote, Lucie Jones, and so voted for Jedward in order to get her booted off the show. Others claim that Simon was “scared” of Lucie and considered her a strong opponent, and so wanted to get rid of her, compared to Jedward, who’s support was always going to fizzle out.

Do you see a familiar trend? Britain’s Got Talent has just been as bad a culprit, with the Ronan Parke fiasco far from the first incident to blacken the show’s name. Even on the same series the drama surrounding Ronan Parke wasn’t the only occasion where eyebrows were raised. Jessica Hobson, another semi-finalist on this years show, was reduced to tears after her performance of Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” was slammed by the judges. They cited the cheesy dance routine and her choice of outfit as the main benefactors in her downfall, and while audiences across the country watched another singer weep at the realisation of ruining her chances, the real reason for the waterworks started to come to light. She claimed she was forced to dance throughout her act rather stay at the piano like she’d prefer and the song was not her choice, and neither was her dress. At this point producers were probably screaming down Ant and Dec’s earpieces telling them to hurry Jessica off the stage before she exposed any more of the controlling nature that they have behind the scenes over the contestants.

This also happened a couple of series ago with an acoustic duo and a constestant named Natalie Okri who were outraged that they weren’t allowed to even choose their track for their performance but this trend just goes to show how the contestants are somewhat treated like rag dolls. Producers seem to paint a picture in their heads of what the contestants should appear, sound and act like and enforce this through the use of “crowd-pleaser” songs while cheapening the act with a million and one backing dancers and some pretty fireworks to finish off with.

Obviously these disputes are only a small proportion of the controversy that The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent is shrouded in year upon year. Tapping up contestants before they apply to the show, editing footage to make them appear undesireable to viewers and over-egging contestant’s backgrounds to turn them into charity cases are other things that the two shows have been accused of.

However, in hindsight I actually think these reality programmes thrive on the controversies, enabling them to maximise viewing figures and always guarantee them front page headlines, giving them further exposure to the public. Even though the stories may give bad publicity, they provide talking points in general chit chat within everyday life, and we all know everyone wants to watch what everyone’s talking about. With this in mind, yes we all think these two programmes can be manipulative, yes we can by outraged by some of the rumours and stories we hear surrounding the shows but by no means does it stop us from watching it. If anything it makes people want to watch them more, as drama equals great TV, proved by the current series of X Factor matching it’s record audience for an opening episode.

So it seems the bigger the drama the bigger the audience the two shows pull in. I guess I should’ve changed the title of this article to “Britain wants controversy”...

Rioters keeping rioting, looters keep looting, haters keep hating, campers keep camping.

Picture above provided by Sam Belcher. More of his work can be found at Sam Belcher Photography.


Saturday 6th August 2011. This date holds some significance to me for two reasons, it was the day that my youth group came back from week away camping, and it was also the day a part of English society decided to rear it’s ugly head.

It only feels like yesterday when I last wrote an article trying to promote a good name for youths across the country. Not much has changed to be honest, and with the events of the last week or so, you could arguably say it’s gotten worse. The young population has never seemed to stand in good stead with the older generation, but it is getting harder to defend them with the rioting that has occurred across the country. With the rioting slowly coming to an end and over 1,500 arrests later, there are still questions to be answered about the motives of the riots and who exactly the rioters are. It is no wonder that many people are pointing the finger of blame towards adolescents, with near on 70% of the guilty aged under 24.

Unfortunately, the easiest thing with an age group is to generalise, and so every young person is getting painted with the same brush, being labelled everything under the sun. Some children might even think that they have to give a customary smile to every passer-by to ensure that they don’t live in fear that the kid doesn’t mug them. Okay, so maybe it hasn’t got to that stage but people’s perception of youngsters in some areas seems to be escalating that way.

It’s weird that at one end of the spectrum you’ve got young people breaking into shops, bringing home whatever they can carry whilst setting off the odd petrol bomb. Then at the opposite end my youth group are happily making the journey home from a week filled with wet, messy and adventurous activities. I guess you could call these the two faces of life amongst youths. More often than not though it is the ugly side that hits the headlines and what everyone sees on a daily basis. Not many people would be too fussed about reading a news article on a pleasant camping trip that ran smoothly. Stories jam-packed with drama are what make the front page and even though people love to read about it, they would always choose a life free from drama.

I’d imagine all parents would rather seeing their children throwing water balloons instead of bricks through windows, and hurling themselves down a water slide instead of running into burning buildings in order to thieve the latest tv. Even singing round a campfire seems light years away from chanting “hate the police” from the other end of a street but it is two different “activities” that have been undertaken by different sets of young people within the space of a few days.
Of course, I think everyone would love to pack their kids off for a week each summer to experience things like climbing, rafting, mountain boarding, water fights and high ropes courses in the glorious sunshine, but clearly life isn’t that simple. You will always get youths playing hell and tarring their generation’s name, and unfortunately that will always be a stain on society, but all we can do is try and minimise it.

A lot of people are also bemoaning the lack of discipline within society these days, such as not being able to smack your children anymore or policemen not being allowed to give a kid a traditional clip round the ear. I’m not promoting these practices but if children learn that they can’t be touched and have more of a right than previous generations then that’s got to be a powerful tool to have. I don’t think things will ever revert to how they were, but parents and respected figures of the community alike will have to reinvent new ways of keeping kids in check to stop anything like the England riots happening again.

So, a year on since my last article on this topic, and youths still take the blame. All youths are scapegoats. It’s no surprise really but until there’s a lengthy period of no fiascos or dramas then those haters will keep hating.

I say, Royal Ascot is upon us, jolly good show!

The British social summer calendar is jam-packed with sporting events that both wealthy and working class people lick their lips at the thought of. The Wimbledon Tennis Championships, Henley-on-Thames Regatta, the sailing week at Cowes on the Isle Of Wight and next year London makes the Summer Olympic Games it’s own; all these occasions seem to roll off the tongue when mentioned while one tries to plan one’s summer programme.

Royal Ascot is another name that fits seamlessly into that list of classic British summer events. Everything about it just oozes British-ness: the fashion, the fine dining and just the fact that the Royal family turn up year upon year. This is to such an extent that racing sometimes doesn’t bear the main focus anymore, with the attention on the attendees, the Queen and of course, what everyone is wearing.

Even though the dress code is strict at Ascot, people have a huge appetite for wearing head-turning outfits, with a sea of elaborate fascinators and top hats on show every day of the week. It’s almost as if it’s a contest in it’s own right, and with the Royal wedding still fresh in the memory Kate Middleton has ensured that dresses and traditional fashion at Ascot has become all the rage, making sure that the competition is a healthy one. However posh frocks and smart suits can sometimes only be a disguise for a spot of good old British hooliganism after a few drinks, with one fight making the headlines of many national newspapers.

Royal Ascot has such a rich heritage, with much of it connected to royalty, and with the event having celebrated it’s 300th anniversary this year, it has ranked highly amongst British culture for a long time. After Queen Anne thought the heathland near Windsor Palace would be a perfect place for racing three centuries ago, the event has gone from strength to strength, with 300,000 people making the trip to Berkshire this year. Some racegoers only attend so they can rub shoulders with the likes of Prince Harry and Prince Charles, with the royal family epitomising British charm and aristocracy.

Royal Ascot has always been a quintessentially British event, one of the premiere events of the social calendar each summer. While the fashion, the food, the racing and even the odd bet make perfect ingredients for a traditionally British occasion, it is the Royal family that runs through the veins of Ascot week.

Astonbury, Arab weddings and artist passes.

Any music fanatic will tell you that one of their biggest dreams would be to spend a whole day backstage at a major festival with all the biggest and most promising bands around. Last Saturday, I did just that. Well, not quite.

My sister’s boyfriend’s band got a place on the main stage of Astonbury last weekend, a music festival that is organised by Aston Student’s Guild, the Student’s Union of Aston University. It is primarily held on a Saturday in early June, and has in the past attracted acts such as Taio Cruz, The Futureheads, Zane Lowe, Chipmunk and Mr Hudson. This year promised to be the biggest yet since it’s inception in 2007, with it playing host to talent such as Devlin, Zane Lowe, Yasmin, The View and of course Bracknell’s very own Hey! I’m A Moviestar (H!IAMS).

However, before any festival feelings could be experienced, the arduous two hour trip down the M40 awaited. I must say, when I imagined a tour bus, a joint effort by a Nissan Micra and a Volkswagen Polo never sprang to mind. Saying this, if we all piled onto a giant tour bus or van, I don’t think we would have had endless fun greeting each other with various gestures and hand signals (not all of them were friendly) as we sped along the motorway in the glorious sunshine.

We discovered our trusty AA route planner, still warm from being printed off at the last minute, only took us as far as Birmingham City Centre, and so another hour ensued of us traipsing through the busy metropolis. Along this wild goose chase, we ended up several times perilously close to ditching the festival for Cadbury World, even if it was only for the promise of a few chocolate bars.

In one particular high street of Birmingham, you could forgive yourself for believing you were in New Delhi, with Indian supermarkets, chemists, clothes stores and even a tattoo shop dominating the urban landscape. We even witnessed an Arab wedding taking place on the side of the road, with screaming fireworks being set off only metres from pedestrians and cars. God knows why the police were there if they were just allowing sparks to fly dangerously close to children. Maybe they were just admiring the convoy of five white sports cars that were also in attendance, which we had earlier seen been filmed as part of the wedding film, or so I presume. It would have been fine if the sports cars had been filmed speeding off in the distance like standard procedure, but instead were recorded at what can only be described as a snail’s pace. This sent traffic into gridlock, with the group completely oblivious, even occasionally asking us to slow done to ensure they got the shot in without us in it!

So all this mayhem in the town they nickname “Brum” led us to turning up a couple of hours later than expected, but still having a healthy amount of time before H!IAMS were on stage. Have no fear, we were greeted with our very own VIP suite, complete with refreshments. Okay, that may be a small lie. It looked more like a classroom, coupled with a few multipacks of fizzy pop, but I think we were all glad for the shelter from the rain.

Of course, to gain access to such privileges we had to flash our VIP/artist passes to the rather mean looking security guards, but it couldn’t go smoothly as that could it? Definitely not, as within minutes of being given my VIP pass I seem to misplace it. As they always say though, every cloud has a silver lining, as I was immediately bumped up to “artist”. Complete with carrying one of the band’s guitars, I even took half a glance over my shoulder to check if any paparazzi were creeping up behind me. I was even preparing myself for floods of people coming up to me asking for autographs or asking me which band I was with. On second thoughts, I don’t think my original plan to tell them I was with the Black Eyed Peas would have quite come off, not too sure I have the right characteristics to be Will.I.Am.

So, after all these trials and tribulations, it was time for what we came for, H!IAMS’ set on the main stage at Astonbury stage. Even if it wasn’t to the 3,000 people that had been expected to turn up, still the band showcased their music to people they’d never played to before, potentially widening their fanbase. Even with the sparse crowd I feel they got the warm reception they deserved, and as I scanned the area around me, it made me aware that people were getting into the music, especially appreciating their new single, The Midnight Rendezvous.

Alas, we didn’t stay on for the rest of the festival, otherwise with our new found VIP status many wonderful things could have been achieved, such as grabbing a cup of tea with Devlin, or playing Monopoly with Zane Lowe. Just for a bit though, for that half a day, H!IAMS could have pretended they were in the big time, I could have pretended to be someone very important and Astonbury could have met their new favourite band. It is these kinds of moments that make life rather interesting, and at the very least it will have spurred on Hey! I’m A Moviestar with their career. Although the incident involving the fireworks at the wedding made me fear for my life instead of cherish it.

Just to end on an extremely light-hearted note, the BBQ at Astonbury provided me with the best chicken burgers I’ve ever tasted, so if you’re not going there for the music, at least go there for the meat!



Links to Hey! I'm A Moviestar at Facebook and Myspace.

False Priority- The Time Is Now

When people think of Bracknell, they think of it as the place where the MET Office used to be, or the proud holder of the town with the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the UK. It’s even remembered for having the most rug or bed shops in one area, with Carpet Right and DFS seemingly dominating retail parks across the borough.

However soon, after the emergence of bands such as Streetfight Silence, Hey! I’m A Moviestar and recently Sundown, Bracknell might soon be more famous for producing promising musical talent. False Priority are another band who are also hoping to make the grade, and in a bid to reach that goal they released their debut LP just over a week ago.

Entitled ‘The Time Is Now’, False Priority’s debut record has only been released after two live performances, and many would suggest this is far too early for any band to think about releasing any material. For a band that have only been together for a short while you would expect the songs to be raw and unrefined, and that’s exactly what you get with False Priority.

However, that is no bad thing. With the first song sharing the title of the EP, the band kicks off by proclaiming that “the time is now for a brand new day” and that “it seems our time has come, it seems we’ve been waiting for so long”. With the band seemingly insistent that they are ready for the big time, their title song sends out a message of purpose. This song got me hearing echoes of Greenday back in their early days, around the releases of Dookie and Insomniac. In fact you get this feeling throughout the whole album, and it is clear to see that Greenday have been big influences on False Priority.

A lot of their songs have dark lyrics, with ‘Dear Diary’ being a song full of confessions about messing up in the past. Other songs seem to follow suit, with ‘In My Eyes’ cursing the loss of a friend, with Connor Langham, the lead singer, announcing that “it’s not great to be me”. Musically though, the songs are good, with ‘In My Eyes’ serving up a great guitar solo, while ‘Dear Diary’, the slowest song on the album, serving as a great reprieve from the other, much heavier songs.

The theme of dark thoughts and bad feelings seems to be continuous throughout their EP, and while it does lead to some neat lyrics and good riffs such as in ‘Cold As Summer’, it would have been more pleasant to see some more upbeat tracks with feel-good lyrics. I feel if False Priority add a few more light-hearted songs into the mix for their next release, it will be seen as a much mature effort with a better reception, especially as cheerful music is welcomed more by most people.

On a lighter tone, it must be noted that this album is not suitable for vegetarians, as their last song ‘We Like Poultry’ involves the boys chanting meat-eating references. This is a hidden track at the end of ‘Lay The Waste’, and definitely stands out as a much more positive and tongue-in-cheek effort to the rest of the songs on the album.

Overall ‘The Time Is Now’ is an unrefined piece by False Priority, but I find it’s also undefined as well. The rawness is great to see, with the band demonstrating great use of guitars and drums throughout the album. Some impressive riffs and guitar solos really do bump up the quality of their music, and this is very promising in terms of future releases from the band.

However, I feel the band are yet to find themselves within their music, but that is expected with a band at such an early stage in their careers. They need to define themselves; this way they’ll write songs about anything and everything and not just about bad memories and troubling times. Once False Priority develop their own character and in turn their own unique music I have no doubts that they will have any problems in conveying a brighter message to their fans, and also even better music to what they’re producing now.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great effort from the boys, but as they discover and develop their own musical sound, their music will simultaneously grow in quality.

Please purchase this album, and even if you don’t, remember the name False Priority and come back at the end of the year, and I bet you’ll be pleasantly surprised.




False Priority’s debut EP ‘The Time Is Now’ is on sale now for £3. If you’re interested in purchasing a copy, please contact the boys through their Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/False-Priority/126644747401144

Alternatively, you can also visit their Myspace page: www.myspace.com/falsepriority

Smoking? You must be joking...

Rewind to less than four years ago. People were able to smoke in pubs, bars, on a bus, pretty much anywhere they chose to. Lighting up was a common occurrence in most places you went, and you would almost always expect a smoky atmosphere as you enter the room. However, in England on 1st July 2007, smoking in public areas was banned. Since then it has been confined to designated smoking areas when smoking is practiced in public areas in order not to spoil the welfare of non-smokers.

Fast forwarding to the present day, the government have stamped their authority by banning the display of cigarettes and tobacco on show. Announced only a few days ago, this will come into force as early as next year for the large supermarkets and not until 2015 for the smaller shops and convenience stores. This is part of the big crackdown by the government to try and reduce the number of people smoking across the country, and also stifle others from taking up the habit.

However, will it go up in smoke? The smoking ban 4 years ago has not made a significant impact on levels of smokers in the UK, but it did serve a slightly different purpose, to battle the threat of passive smoking. In that sense it was successful, with non-smokers being able to enjoy their nights out more without absorbing the cigarette smoke that lingers in the vicinity.

Currently just over a fifth of adults smoke in the UK, a figure which has been levelling off in recent years, after dramatic drops between 1974 and 2001 from 45% to below 25%. The aim of this new measure is to reduce smoking numbers from 21.2% to 18.5% within the next 5 years, with a particular focus on the under-age and women who are pregnant.

On the face of it, this fresh law doesn’t appear to be able to make the significant impact that ministers clearly want it to do. Regular smokers already know the brand of cigarettes they’ll be purchasing before they even enter the shop, without needing a big display to remind them. Couple this with a teenager’s biggest enemy, peer pressure, and the cigarette kiosks in supermarkets and corner shops alike do not really seem to affect a person’s intentions on whether they want to smoke or not.

However, I can see the potential effect the ban could have, as well as the shortcomings. For example, the sight of tobacco would not be imposed on anyone, especially the younger generation, who are more likely to try new things. I can definitely see the attraction of cigarette displays to teenagers, with the layout of the brightly coloured array of boxes being striking, somewhat like an old-fashioned sweet shop. Plus, without the magnetism of such displays, younger children would be less likely to develop a mindset of wanting to try them if cigarette’s commercial muscle wasn’t imposed upon them. There is something much more daunting about having to ask the cashier about what cigarettes there are on offer, than to just simply pick a well known brand out of the crowd of packets and buy them.

Attitudes within the country have changed dramatically since the 1950s where posters could be seen everywhere of glamorous girls taking a drag of a cigarette, promoting smoking as a very fashionable habit. Back then, 8 out of 10 men smoked. However now the worrying statistic is attributed to 15 year olds, as whilst it’s illegal to purchase tobacco at that age, 1 in 7 still say they smoke on a regular basis. Since the 1950s we have all become more health-conscious of the effects of smoking, and this can be accounted for in the decline of smokers, yet there is still an element of “coolness” surrounding smoking amongst some young people.

The government are also considering a proposal for all cigarettes to be sold in plain packets, in an effort to try and dull down their appearance. This would of course make cigarettes a more boring prospect to teenagers, making them less likely to buy some. It may not make such a telling impact on the regulars though. Even though the familiar colours of each brand will disappear, brand attachment will mean smokers won’t necessarily give up just because their cigarettes aren’t in the beloved gold packet they fell in love with.

Research in other countries who have employed similar laws have shown promising results such as in Canada, where one area reported a drop of around a quarter of smoking teenagers five years after a below-the-counter law was enforced. So while there is both evidence for teenagers giving up with the removal of advertising, it’s also synonymous that younger people are far less likely to take up smoking in New Zealand due to the removal of cigarette displays.

Year after year the government wages war against smoking and this latest ban could have the potential to stub out interest in smoking amongst teenagers. While the effect on regular smokers seems minimal, the government are focusing on the younger generation, and I think if less and less teenagers are not overawed by the sight of cigarettes then you’ll see a drop in numbers of them taking up smoking. However, it may not be as big a drop as ministers will be hoping it is. People are more liable to smoke if the majority of their friends already do so, and this type of conformity has a much larger effect than cigarette displays. Whereas people are less likely to take up smoking if none of the people they socialise with do, meaning they would feel alienated having to go outside for a cigarette on their own.

I’m not sure what the impact of this new law against smoking will be, especially amongst older people, but it could shape the next generation’s mindset into something more smoke-free. It may take a lot longer than five years to see the direct effect of the ban, with younger people not reminded of cigarettes every time they walk into their local shop. There has definitely been a mixed reaction about this ruling and mixed fortunes seem to be the predicted outcome, so it seems the chances of success will be close, but no cigar.