26: John Byrne
John Byrne's Free Thought is about smoking on stage, broadcast around 8.30am in Breakfast on 15th October. Or listen to it online right here the next working day.
Emma Spary, Cambridge
Having watched my father die of smoking-related emphysema this summer, I can only say that my sense of humour about the subject of smoking has completely vanished. As far as I'm concerned, the ban on smoking on stage is to be celebrated if it prevents even one death like his. The risk is, after all, that actors will feel pressured into smoking for job purposes, not even for personal pleasure--and yes, John Byrne, we could tell you have smoked for a long time...
Andy Armitage, West Wales, UK
What next? Ban smoking on film, because, while it can't physically affect anyone in the cinema, it can encourage kids to smoke? Are we to abandon realism altogether? Let's ban sex on film, then, lest someone under 16 decides to take it up as a hobby. Let's ban eating saturated fats on soap operas, then, lest viewers' arteries should get clogged if they decide to emulate their soap heroes. It's just plain crazy.
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