Puffing Billy

In a recent case, a judge has ruled that smoking may amount to contributory negligence - at least, smoking since 1971 when health warnings first started to appear on cigarette packets. He made no distinction between people who started smoking after 1971, and those who started earlier and continued after 1971 - indeed the case in point involved a man who started smoking in 1955. I think the distinction should be made, because as a one-time smoker myself, I know how difficult it was to give up, and I can empathise with anyone who has tried and been unable to do so. Those who chose to start knowing the risks can certainly be considered as knowingly putting themselves in harm's way, but I feel it is a little hard to assume that anyone who continued smoking after 1971 was doing so by choice. I, by the way, gave up in 1965 - not because of health considerations, but because, as a newly married man, it was costing too much.