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An elderly man who died in a bungalow fire may have been smoking late at night, the fire service has said.
Firefighters were called to the blaze in Yeaton, near Baschurch in Shropshire, about 2300 GMT on Friday.
A neighbour broke into the property and tried to rescue the victim but was beaten back by thick smoke and severe heat, a fire service spokesman said.
He added the cause of the fire was being investigated but was thought to have been caused by smoking materials.
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Action is planned to remove a smoking shelter, window and satellite dish installed without consent at a pub.
South Norfolk district council is concerned that various alterations have been made to The White Hart, Hingham, all of which required listed building approval. The work included a new window, hanging baskets and gates at the entrance to the rear courtyard.
The smoking shelter is described as a basic structure with a felt roof, and the window is a standard casement. Neither is considered to fit in with the character and appearance of the 17th century Grade 2 listed building
A man has denied assaulting a rail passenger who was allegedly pushed off a platform onto the track at a station.
Ionel Rapisca, of Joyce Green Lane, Dartford, entered not guilty pleas at Maidstone Crown Court to causing Linda Buchanan grievous bodily harm with intent and an alternative charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm.
One in eight bottles of spirits consumed over Christmas and one in six cigarettes smoked are likely to have been smuggled into the UK, figures in the annual estimate of revenue lost by customs suggest.
The latest report by Revenue and Customs (HMRC) puts the maximum amount lost from smuggled alcohol, cigarettes, hand-rolled tobacco and petrol at nearly £5.5bn. The share of smuggled alcohol has increased over the past year, from one in 10 to one in eight bottles. The trade in illegal cigarettes also went up. The government has been at pains to clamp down on the smuggling of cheap cigarettes, amid reports that poorer smokers are more likely to quit if prices increase. In October a report published in the British Medical Journal said that cheap cigarettes and other tobacco products smuggled into Britain caused 4,000 premature deaths, four times the number from illegal drugs. The study by Prof Robert West found that if smuggling were stopped, tobacco prices would rise by about 12%. A price increase would encourage over 5% of smokers to stop smoking, his report added.
Britain has an army of smokers who cover up their sneaky cigarette habit from family and friends, according to a survey.
As millions get ready to try to kick the habit again this year, the poll revealed millions of adults still don't smoke in front of their parents �?" despite being in their 20s and 30s.
The survey was carried out on 1,000 people who had bought the NJOY "electronic" cigarette, an aid to kicking the habit.
Of those buying the device, 77 per cent admitted they still hid the fact from their parents despite, on average, being over 27. . . .
NJOY is a £60 replica cigarette, a battery powered, tobacco-free device which mimics the process and sensation of smoking. A chemical reaction between the ingredients in the device produces an odourless and harmless vapour that looks like cigarette smoke.
Liverpool Smokers have paid £98,625 in fines in eight months for dropping cigarette butts on the city’s streets, almost twice as much as last year.
Campaigners such as Forest (Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco) said the figure showed that councils such as Liverpool were at the forefront of “antismoking extremism” and were using the antismoking agenda to make money out of smokers.
Four people have been arrested in an operation aimed at people dealing in large amounts of fake tobacco products across the Yorkshire and Humber region.
Addresses in Leeds, Sheffield and Hull were targeted in a crackdown led by the trading standards Scambuster unit.
Counterfeit cigarette factories were uncovered in Leeds and Sheffield as well as a cannabis factory in Leeds.
The Scambuster team worked alongside police and customs officers in the day of action on Monday.
In Sheffield, two people were arrested after more than 58kg of counterfeit tobacco and manufacturing paraphernalia were found.
Around 10,000 fake cigarettes were seized from an address in Hull.
The more laws governments pass, the more they are subject to the oldest law of all: the law of unintended consequences. And smoking bans are having bizarre consequences across the world. . . .
In Britain, where smoking in enclosed public places became totally illegal in 2007, beer sales are down by 10 per cent; analysts attribute half of that to the smoking law. Pubs are now closing at a record rate of 36 a week. . . .
There are similar reports from Ireland, where the broadcaster Gerry Anderson said bars now had the atmosphere of a dentist’s waiting room. In France, more than 500 of the 40,000 cafés and bars disappeared last year. Again, the ban is largely blamed. And in France, the climate is more conducive to sitting outside with a Ricard and a Gauloise.
Latest figures suggest there has been no effect at all on tobacco consumption in Britain or Ireland. And anecdotal evidence is that kids are now staying out of pubs, heading for any open spaces they can find, getting bladdered on cheap supermarket lager and smoking their heads off.
When the ban came in, all the non-smokers twittered about how they could now safely visit all the lovely smoke-free pubs. And did they? Did they heck!
I hardly ever smoked in pubs myself. Nor does anyone else now. They do not drink in them either. Brilliant.
But, the politicians thought their ban would make Scotland's puffers instantly relinquish the habit, that by now, smokers would be a dying breed, so to speak.
However, there is only one way in which this country's smokers are a dying breed - something to do with the coughing - as well as the coffin they carry them off in.
My sympathy is running out.
If you want to commit suicide, there are quicker, less painful ways. And, I think we all know now that SMOKING KILLS. . . .
On Christmas Day, they looked downright nuts.
The view was the same through so many of Scotland's kitchen windows: mums and grannies slaving over a hot stove, while, outside, hovering in the freezing fog and ice, some mad aunt or uncle, brother or sister, scantily dressed - hands shaking - desperately tried to light up in the dark.
It had to be Christmas Day's most bizarre sight. . . .
You may remember, back in 2004, the health secretary at the time, Dr John Reid, said that sometimes the only enjoyment available to a 21-year-old single mother of three living in a sink estate was to have a fly fag.
In an aside worthy of Marie Antoinette, Dr Reid said: "Let them smoke cigarettes." . . .
The only time these patients removed those masks, believe it or not - and I still can't - was to go out to a special room to smoke a cigarette; such was the power of their addiction.
Now, all they have to do, is go out into the freezing night and light up. We need to do better than bans.
Ministers have to consider the bad news, namely, that 99% of people who give up smoking put on weight.
And what is the biggest cause of heart disease in Scotland next to smoking? Yes, obesity.
And doctors say that ex-smokers who put on weight often revert to cigarettes. The bad news is they don't lose the weight, so they end up fat smokers.
Like thousands of other smokers, I now have to stand out in the wind and rain to have a cigarette as we are no longer allowed to smoke in pubs or cafes.
The government already has a helpline to help people stop smoking. Now it is planning to make shops put cigarettes under the counter and out of sight, to help prevent our young people taking up the habit.
I can understand all this and I am in full agreement with it, if it prevents people smoking and as a result saves them from dying of cancer.
What I can't understand is how the government allows young people to be shown smoking in TV soaps.
MY Sun recently joined forces with Sun Health to conduct a webchat where users could post questions and speak to a professional Quit Counsellor about how best to tackle the smoking challenge that awaits every smoker who wants a new life for the New Year.
Nannaknock: Are there any good methods to stop the temptation around others when you are out drinking?
Quit Counsellor: This is quite a problem for many people - you say that you are a social smoker - does that mean that you just want to cut down smoking when drinking with other people or have you quit and want to stay that way?
IT’S near the top of many people’s New Year resolutions list, but can often be one of the hardest to keep – giving up smoking.
Now, in 2009, pharmacies across York and North Yorkshire are offering more help to smokers who are struggling to give up nicotine.
NHS North Yorkshire and York’s Stop Smoking Service has trained staff from 56 pharmacies throughout the region to widen the support they can offer.
They will be able to provide over-the-counter smoking cessation programmes run by specialist advisors in the field, and reluctant smokers will receive vouchers to take to one of the participating pharmacies and trade them in for medication, such as nicotine patches and gum at prescription costs.
In the first few weeks of trying to give up, when withdrawal symptoms are at their worst, smokers will also be able to pick up tips on coping with the cravings and the necessary encouragement to continue on their quest.
Scores of pharmacists across Cumbria have signed up to an initiative that aims to help people quit smoking.
Health experts are redoubling their efforts to combat the habit, which kills more than 100,000 people every year in the UK.
Smoking is linked to many life-limiting illnesses and conditions, including cancer, heart disease and poor circulation. Now smokers in Cumbria are being offered extra help to kick the habit.
A new NHS Cumbria scheme means that from the beginning of January, participating pharmacies across the county will be offering free advice and regular support including nicotine replacement.
More than half of Cumbria's 102 pharmacies have joined the scheme which gives people easier access to NHS stop smoking services.