STOP the WAR on SMOKING!

MARK ALEXANDER: All these stupid ideas come here from America! The home of most bad ideas and all clownery!

We Europeans follow those Americans like lemmings! Whatever stupid idea those clowns come up with, whatever the new trend is, we must follow! Stop this NONSENSE! AT ONCE!

We can all see just how stupid Americans can be. We now have proof aplenty! Need I say more?

This anti-smoking movement has gained a seemingly unstoppable momentum out of the self-righteousness of the exceedingly intolerant. It has lost all sense of reason and rationality. And politicians who are motivated and governed by having wet dreams about being liked, take the anti-smoking message, and run with it, hoping to become even more popular.

Were longevity and good health the goal, there would be plenty of things to be banned: alcohol, excessive sugar consumption, tattoos, and drug-taking. And plenty more things besides. But people who indulge in these things are allowed to live in peace. Politicians do not molest them with ever more restrictive laws!

As a person who has survived a few near-death experiences—I have kissed the angel of death on more occasions than I would care to recall—I view life differently from these lemmings. None of those near-death experiences, by the way, have been related to my one-time, very pleasurable, daily smoking habit. (I have been a non-smoker for more than four years now.)

All pleasures in these Puritanical days have either been banned or are in the process of being banned. All pleasures not yet banned soon will be. All pleasures have already been made too expensive to be enjoyed by anyone other than the superrich. All is possible for those people, of course.

And then come the proscriptions on smoking anywhere other than perhaps one’s own home.

Incompetent politicians have listened to the intolerant amongst us and have OUTLAWED the pleasure. Those clowns prefer the people to take drugs like cannabis, cocaine, ketamine, and whatever the hell else those people take. Because those substances are usually enjoyed in secrecy, and anyway, the people who take those substances are not compliant like the struggling middle classes.

Furthermore, without having any acceptable evidence, politicians have encouraged people to vape instead, So they have endangered the lives of children with those ridiculous, exotic, and enticing flavours. I would wager that vaping, in the long run, will be shown to be far more damaging to health than smoking ever was! And for reasons I can enumerate on another occasion. In my opinion, politicians have been IRRESPONSIBLE to encourage the habit as a healthier option, as a smoking substitute — a habit they cannot possibly know enough about to evaluate. People haven’t been vaping long enough for them to know a great deal about its long-term deleterious effects on health. So, we have yet to reap the consequences of politicians’ bad decisions.

It is high time that the people be liberated; it is high time for them to be unchained. If the worst that a person does in this life is enjoy a smoke twixt birth and death, then it can be said that that person really has lived a pretty clean life.

All Rights Reserved
© Mark Alexander

People Will Continue to Enjoy Their Cigarettes Regardless of Control Freaks!

Violent Tobacco Black Market Wipes $6b from Federal Budget

FINANCIAL REVIEW: The booming illicit tobacco market has wiped $6 billion from the federal budget bottom line in just five months and revenue from tobacco excise is now forecast to plummet to just over $2 billion a year by 2030.

The government raked in more than $16 billion from tobacco taxes in 2020, but the continued raising of the excise sparked a violent black market trade run by criminal gangs that has decimated the legitimate market and resulted in a massive fall in revenue.

The government is now spending hundreds of millions of dollars on dealing with the fallout, including $14 million in the budget to boost the ability of states to disrupt the illicit tobacco and e-cigarette markets.

In the mid-year budget update, the government expected to raise $5.5 billion in tobacco excise in 2025-26. Five months later, that figure is now $4.1 billion, or 24 per cent lower than expected, and will fall to $2.1 billion by June 2030.

Legal cigarettes cost about $50, of which $34 is tax and excise, while the readily available illicit product is priced at about $15. NSW Premier Chris Minns in 2025 called on Chalmers to consider lowering the excise, saying it was contributing to the illegal tobacco industry, while economist Chris Richardson has labelled the continued raising of the excise one of the worst policies this century.

“We’ve cratered the tax take, stalled the fall in smoking rates, and invited organised crime into the everyday lives of more than a million Australians,” Richardson wrote in The Australian Financial Review in April.

The budget expert said the failure by successive governments to do anything about the issue meant it would now be much harder to fix.

“Organised crime will fight tooth and nail,” he said. “They’ve been a huge success at that already: after all, they fought the law, and the law lost. Given we’re now handing them a tasty $5 billion a year in risk-free revenue, they’ll be cashed up and cranky if serious efforts are made to reverse course.” » | Ronald Mizen | Political correspondent | Wednesday, May 13, 2026

And so it will be here in the UK with Starmer's stupid, undemocratic, illiberal, and ridiculous generational smoking ban! Mark my words! That law will have to be REVERSED, REPEALED! Free up the people! You will enchain them at society's PERIL. — © Mark Alexander

Alexandre Devecchio : « Génération sans tabac en Angleterre, l’État nounou nuit gravement à la liberté »

LE FIGARO : LA BATAILLE DES IDÉES - Le Royaume-Uni a adopté une loi interdisant la vente de cigarettes aux personnes nées après 2008. Derrière l’objectif louable en matière de santé, un recul du principe de responsabilité individuelle.

Capture d'écran extraite de cet article. | Le premier ministre britannique Winston Churchill, cigare à la bouche. | English Photographer, (20th century) / Bridgeman Images
« Cigars, whisky and no sport », telle était la devise du grand Winston Churchill, décédé à l’âge de… 90 ans ! Il doit se retourner dans sa tombe aujourd’hui en voyant les parlementaires britanniques œuvrer pour faire du Royaume-Uni un royaume sans tabac. Et pourquoi pas une Grande-Bretagne sans Beatles ni chips au vinaigre ? Le Parlement britannique a adopté la semaine dernière une loi interdisant à vie la vente de cigarettes à toutes les personnes nées après 2008. Les personnes nées après le 1er janvier 2009, actuellement âgées de 17 ans ou moins, n’auront jamais le droit d’acheter au Royaume-Uni des produits à base de tabac, comme les cigarettes, même une fois adultes. Le Royaume-Uni est le premier pays en Europe à prendre une telle mesure, et le deuxième au monde après les Maldives, pays où l’islam radical ne cesse de gagner du terrain et où la charia est appliquée pour les ressortissants.

L’objectif d’« éliminer presque complètement le tabagisme chez les jeunes dès 2040 » peut apparaître louable en Angleterre, où la cigarette reste la première cause de décès évitables. Mais, outre que la prohibition n’a jamais été une solution et ne contribue qu’à faire exploser le marché noir, cela rappelle les mauvais souvenirs de la pandémie lorsque les chefs d’État nous expliquaient comment nous laver les mains. Impossible de ne pas penser au Meilleur des mondes d’Aldous Huxley. Dans ce roman dystopique paru en 1932, l’écrivain britannique imaginait un État mondial où la technologie et la science avaient remplacé la liberté et Dieu, où les maladies et la vieillesse avaient été éradiquées. » | Par Alexandre Devecchio, pour Le Figaro Magazine | dimanche 3 mai 2026

Réservé aux abonnés

Cet article important est excellent et très intéressant. Il va droit au but.

Starmer est austère et morose. Il faut espérer que la loi inapplicable de Starmer finira par échouer. De plus, il faut espérer qu'un futur gouvernement aura la sagesse d'abroger cette loi absurde, antidémocratique et illibérale.

Libérons le peuple, ne l'enchaînons pas ! — © Mark Alexander

Le Parlement britannique adopte une loi interdisant la vente de cigarettes aux personnes nées après 2008

LE FIGARO : Toutes les personnes nées après le 1er janvier 2009, et qui ont donc actuellement 17 ans ou moins, ne pourront jamais acheter légalement de cigarettes au Royaume-Uni.

Le gouvernement britannique a salué mardi l'adoption «historique» par le Parlement d'une loi visant à faire du Royaume-Uni un pays sans tabac en prohibant la vente de cigarettes à toutes les personnes nées après 2008. Il s'agit, selon plusieurs médias, du deuxième pays au monde à instaurer une interdiction générationnelle après les Maldives, qui ont prohibé en novembre la vente de tabac aux jeunes nés après le 1er janvier 2007.

Les députés de la Chambre des Communes et les Lords de la chambre haute, se sont entendus lundi sur une version finale du texte, qui doit désormais recevoir l'assentiment royal - une formalité. Wes Streeting, ministre travailliste de la Santé, a estimé qu'il s'agissait d'un « moment historique », avec une « première génération sans tabac protégée d'une vie entière de dépendance et de dommages ». » | Par Le Figaro avec AFP | mercredi 22 avril 2026

Related material here, here, and here.

The Joyless, Wooden Starmer and His Killjoy Cronies Announce the Death of Cool...

... and freedom of choice. This is what socialism will do for you!

Proposed Lifetime Smoking Ban to Become Law in Britain

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The proposal, which was approved by Parliament on Tuesday, will ban the supply or sale of tobacco products to anyone born in 2009 or after, permanently.

Britain aims to raise a “smoke-free generation” by permanently banning the sale or supply of tobacco and vape products to anyone born in 2009 or after, with a bill that was approved by Parliament on Tuesday.

The bill applies to people currently 17 years old or younger and aims to keep them from ever picking up the habit in their lifetime. The proposal is expected to soon go into law after the final formality of approval by King Charles III.

Lawmakers say that in practice, the measure means the age of sale for tobacco products will rise over time as the targeted demographic group grows older and could lead to a smoke-free society. The law will apply in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The people covered by the law will be “part of the first smoke-free generation, protected from a lifetime of addiction and harm,” said Wes Streeting, the health secretary, on Tuesday. “Prevention is better than cure.” » | Ephrat Livni | Tuesday, April 21, 2026

Related video and links to articles here.

Smoking Ban for People Born after 2008 Agreed in the UK | BBC News

Apr 21, 2026 | Children aged 17 or younger will face a lifelong ban on buying cigarettes in the UK, as the Tobacco and Vapes Bill clears Parliament.

Both the Commons and Lords have settled on a final draft of the "landmark" legislation, which aims to stop anyone born after 1 January 2009 from taking up smoking by making it illegal for shops to sell them tobacco, to create a smoke-free generation.

When it gets royal assent, ministers will also have new powers to regulate tobacco, vaping and nicotine products, including their flavours and packaging. I

t is part of a series of measures aimed at tackling the health effects of smoking, one of the UK's leading causes of preventable death, disability and ill health.


This is legislation thought up by undemocratic fools! No party that voted in favour of this will get my vote. This is totally undemocratic and unworkable. Furthermore, it is a gift for criminals and blackmarketeers. A person enjoying a conventional cigarette is the least of our concerns today. Young people are into far worse that tobacco these days. Moreover, this doesn't just impact children; everyone as he/she ages will be impacted by this undemocratic nonsense. It's a pity that these stupid, nanny-state-inclined politicians couldn't find more important things to do. — © Mark Alexander

NIGEL FARAGE: Reform will repeal the generational smoking ban: The puritanical spirit of Oliver Cromwell again stalks the land »

THE GUARDIAN: Bill banning people born after 2008 from buying tobacco clears UK parliament: Ministers hope tobacco and vapes bill, which will become law next week, will create a ‘smoke-free generation’ »

Smoking Is Cool Again Among Gen Z

Screensjot taken from this Newsweek article. | A Newsweek illustration. | Getty
NEWSWEEK: Cigarettes appear to be enjoying a cultural renaissance among Generation Z, decades after smoking bans and health concerns drove many to quit.

They’re popping up across social media in edits of celebrities and iconic TV characters, like Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw, making cameos on the runway and appearing in fashion content.

Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2012, has long been seen as wellness-obsessed. In a July 2024 IWSR study, 64 percent of legal drinking-age Gen Zers in the United States said they had not consumed alcohol in the six months leading up to May that year.

And in December 2024, University of Michigan researchers found that the percentage of students who abstained from drugs and alcohol reached record levels that year. Amongst 12th graders alone, 67 percent had shunned drugs—defined in the study as alcohol, marijuana or nicotine cigarettes or e-cigarettes—in the previous 30 days, up from 53 percent in 2017.

And indeed, social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram proliferate a seemingly endless roster of wellness trends, be it the “Great Lock-In” that emerged in September—focusing on bettering yourself to the end of the year—the “75 Hard” 75-day health and fitness plan or the “clean girl aesthetic,” a minimalist beauty and fashion trend. Gen Zers came of age under an algorithm promoting an ultra-clean lifestyle. Now, however, it appears they’re getting acquainted with vices favored by their predecessors. » | Marni Rose McFall | News Reporter | Published: Friday, December 5, 2025. Updated: Thursday, December 18, 2025

Quitting Smoking: Today Is My Fourth Anniversary

MARK ALEXABDER: For those who are interested, today, April 10th, marks exactly four years since I smoked my last cigarette.

Even though I had smoked twenty cigarettes a day for most of my adult life, and even though I derived a great deal of pleasure from my smoking habit, it was a HABIT. It WAS NOT an ADDICTION! For this reason, quitting was relatively easy for me. I quit cold turkey.

Have I ever craved cigarettes since quitting? No, definitely not! But have I missed it occasionally? Certainly, I have. Just like you miss a friend when he/she goes away, or passes on. Because in many ways, cigarettes are like friends; they keep one company.

So many people complain about the smell of the smoke emanating from another’s burning cigarette. I wouldn’t. In fact, since quitting, I have hardly ever smelt cigarette smoke, because I no longer know anyone in my circle of friends who still indulges in the habit. In fact, I would love to smell cigarette smoke one day to remind me of my past pleasure.

Despite having quit, this blog remains a welcoming space for smokers from all over the world. Smoking, to me, is actually one of life’s great pleasures. The western world has grown far too intolerant of the pleasurable habit. I look back fondly on my smoking years.

© Mark Alexander
All Rights Reserved

Captivating, Cool, Sexy, and Handsome

Un bel homme qui fume a un certain je ne sais quoi.

Is Banning Smoking "Unconservative"?

Apr 16, 2024 | 'Absolutely nuts' was how former Prime Minister Boris Johnson described Rishi Sunak’s plan to gradually phase out smoking – banning anyone born since the start of 2009 from ever being able to buy cigarettes or tobacco products like vapes.

Liz Truss, who was also briefly prime minister in-between the two men, is also among some critical of the proposal – which she described as 'profoundly unconservative'.

…

But will the policy create a smokefree generation? And what will it mean for Conservative Party ideology?

Niall Paterson looks at the health implications with Alice Wiseman, vice president of The Association of Directors of Public Health, and the politics of the policy with Sky’s political editor Beth Rigby and Tory peer Lord Frost, who disagrees with the planned legislation.


The simple answer is YES. Of course it is unconservative. It is also undemocratic — and stupid and unworkable and, and, and. These tw*ts in Parliament—use the vowel of your choice—need some real problems to try and solve. If this stupid law ever passes, it will create new problems rather than solve old ones. Moreover, it will not stop people smoking, either. If anything, it will make it more attractive to young people. Forbidden fruits always are. — © Mark Alexander

Tucker and Buckley Carlson on the One Topic More Forbidden Than Israel

Jan 13, 2026 | Tucker and Buckley Carlson discuss smoking and how you were convinced it makes you a pariah.

Arson and Deadly Feuds: Australia’s Tobacco Wars | Four Corners Documentary

Mar 3, 2025 | Four Corners investigative journalist Dan Oakes uncovers the secrets of Australia’s black-market tobacco trade in Tobacco Wars.

With illicit cigarettes readily available in cash-only stores and distributed by unmarked vans across the country, this investigation reveals a vast network stretching from Melbourne’s suburban tobacconists to international smuggling routes.

Using concealed cameras and exclusive access to law enforcement, the Four Corners team follows the illicit pipeline, exposing the lucrative industry that is fuelling organised crime while robbing the government of billions in lost revenue.

Tobacco Wars investigates the high-stakes underworld where arson attacks, extortion, and deadly feuds are used to control the illegal cigarette market.

As the government grapples with policy responses and law enforcement agencies struggle to disrupt smuggling syndicates, Tobacco Wars raises urgent questions about the country’s ability to curb this thriving illicit trade.


This is what you get when stupid, fanatical, anti-smoking politicians raise the price of cigarettes so much that smokers refuse to buy licit, government-regulated cigarettes because of extortionate prices and turn to much cheaper, black market cigarettes to enjoy a smoke. This is not good governance; rather, it is stupid, irresponsible governance. It doesn’t bring smoking rates down and it causes violence and gang warfare in the form of turf wars to boot. — © Mark Alexander

Here is an excellent NYT article related to this documentary.

How $40-a-Pack Cigarettes Pushed Australians to the Black Market

THE NEW YORK TIMES: ax hikes made cigarettes in Australia the most expensive in the world. They have also helped fuel a multibillion-dollar criminal enterprise in bootleg tobacco.

Screenshot taken from this article. | Matthew Abbott for the New York Times
A retired math teacher descended into an underground parking lot in search of her dealer, cash in hand.

Headlights flashed from the far end of the garage in a beachside, middle-class neighborhood in suburban Melbourne, Australia. She walked up to an unmarked van and soon was back above ground with the illicit goods.

A carton of cigarettes.

Australia has the most expensive cigarettes in the world, a pack of midmarket cigarettes costing on average about 55 Australian dollars, or almost $40, nearly double what it will set you back in New York City. A series of steep tax hikes — eight in 10 years — were put in place to reduce the rate of smoking, which has steadily declined. But the high prices have also given rise to a thriving black market now estimated to be a multibillion-dollar industry that accounts for as much as half of all tobacco sales in the country.

“It’s the injustice of the situation,” said the retired teacher, Pat Felvus, 75, who recounted in an interview her early experiences of buying illegal cigarettes, which cost as little as 10 Australian dollars a pack. “Why would you pay four times the amount?”

Bootleg cigarettes are readily available on every main street in Australia — at convenience stores, candy shops and tobacconists. Competition has driven the price of under-the-counter smokes lower and lower, at a time that the cost for staples is rising. Violence has erupted between organized crime groups jostling for a slice of the lucrative market, with a spate of firebombings, extortion, shootings and homicides.

The scale of the black market and the criminality has raised questions about how far governments can raise so-called sin taxes to curb undesirable behaviors. Australia is now facing the quandary: Are the high cigarette prices doing more harm than good? » | Victoria Kim | Reporting from Geelong and Melbourne, Australia | Sunday, February 15, 2026

Gaggles of stupid politicians in parliaments around the world make stupid political decisions and thus make for stupid governance! Alas, you can’t fix stupid! — © Mark Alexander

Smoking: From Cultural Norm to Public Health Crisis | SLICE | Full Documentary

May 3, 2025 | “Smoking kills,” “Smoking harms those around you,” “Smoking causes strong addiction”... A litany of messages punctuating the smoker's daily life who, according to public health campaigns, is a weak-willed individual, harmful to themselves and others. Bans are expanding, methods and therapies abound, tobacco cessation clinics are opening in every hospital. And yet, not long ago, smoking was considered normal behavior — a rite of passage for young people, a sign of self-assertion for men, and emancipation for women.

The dangers of tobacco were known even then, but health and prevention did not hold the prominent place they do today. Why, in just a few decades, has the average person been turned into a patient needing re-education? Has health become our sole horizon, our ultimate utopia?



Some of the nicest people I have ever met have been smokers. Hitler was a non-smoker, and very anti-smoking, so I can confidently conclude that he was no ideal model for the anti-smoing campaigners! Further, Trump is also a non-smoker. He is another, who is no icon for the non-smoking campaigners! Then we have Lenin. He was a militant anti-smoker. All this should tell you all you need to know!

This anti-smoking fervour has caused nothing but loneliness, distress, and paranoia.

In this video, they say that all the focus now is on the body. Yes! And what a mess they are making of it, too! Nothing but ugly tattoos and piercings, here, there, and everywhere! Whilst I am all for encouraging people not to smoke because of the health hazards, I am NOT for coercion. If a person derives pleasure from smoking, and very many people do—I was such a person before quitting—then so be it. I can think of many, far worse, far unhealthier pleasures than smoking a cigarette.

By the way, since people smoke less, their health has not improved. Not at all! Obesity, which was kept under control when more people smoked, is now the cause of many early deaths. Furthermore, cardiovascular disease has shown that it is not in decline.

One more thing: There is nothing more life-enhancing than a little joie de vivre, something which these killjoys totally ignore. Much of the anti-smoking rhetoric is nothing but prejudiced bollocks.

America is the source of so many evil ideas and so much stupidity! And, by the way, as for "passive smoking", it's a load of bullshit! — © Mark Alexander

Have You Noticed Smoking Is Making a Comeback? I Hate That. I Love That. | Opinion

USA TODAY: I know smoking is bad for my health. We all know that. So why is it making a comeback?

The sight of snuffed cigarette butts in an ashtray might feel jarringly anachronistic these days, given successful efforts to curtail the smelly act for decades.

Nonetheless, we're edging toward a resurgence, at least in popular culture, of the classic combustion of an old-school cigarette, even if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention assures us rates aren’t yet increasing. Unfortunately, I’ve fallen into the quiet resurgence.

I’m a 46-year-old diabetic who tries to be healthy, yet after quitting 20 years ago, I find myself back in the alley occasionally (always shamefully) puffing as I hold pleasure and consequence in the same breath. My friends call it nostalgia. I think it's deeper – a defiant exhale of the angst and authenticity I crave in an uncertain world. 

The historical canon of smoking is well-documented from early 20th century glamour and association with sophistication, rebellion and artistic freedom – see flappers, film noir, World War II soldiers, the Beat Generation, the Marlboro Man and Bob Dylan.

I grew up in the haze of the 1990s when smoking wasn’t just a habit, it was a personality – raw and rebellious – butts smeared with Courtney Love’s red lipstick, the thrift-store fantasy of "Reality Bites," the sultry detachment of Mia Wallace in "Pulp Fiction." 

…

Smoking offers a palpable pause, a singular moment of physical presence in an existence mediated by the ever-present pressure of political machinations. And when those threats feel ambient and involuntary, smoking is a sensory language all its own, where the health consequences almost fade to black (like my lungs) as I relish each tantalizing feature of personal agency.

Read the whole article here | Written by Andrea Javor, Opinion contributor | Undated

Zigarette als Statussymbol: Wie Rauchen wieder cool wurde

MONOPOL: Stars von heute rauchen wieder Kette, fast wie James Dean und Co. in den 50ern. Risiken hin oder her, die Kippe ist zurück in der Popkultur - oder war sie nie weg?

In einem weißen "Nova Cora"-Kleid von Vivienne Westwood, Pumps von Jimmy Choo und einer schlichten Schleppe sitzt Sängerin Charli XCX an einem Tisch der Trattoria Dalla in London. Soeben hat sie sich mit dem Drummer der Band The 1975 vermählt, und jetzt genießt sie erstmal - eine Zigarette.

Nichts Ungewöhnliches, die Britin raucht auf der Bühne, hat von Sängerin Rosalía zu ihrem Geburtstag einen Zigaretten-Blumenstrauß bekommen und auch bei ihrer Hochzeitsparty die Glimmstängel verteilt. Der Besitzer der Location Ellie's Bar erzählte später dem "Face Magazine", dass zehn Packungen Vogue Essence Bleue auf Silbertabletts bereitlagen.

Charli ist nicht die Einzige, die gern öffentlich raucht. Auch ihre Popstar-Kolleginnen greifen gerade sehr performativ zur Zigarette - sei es privat oder bei der Arbeit. Sängerin Addison Rae pafft im Musikvideo zu ihrem Song "Aquamarine" zwei Kippen gleichzeitig. Sabrina Carpenter benutzt im Clip zu "Manchild"eine Gabel als Zigarettenhalter und soll während der Met Gala eine Zigarre genossen haben. Auch Dua Lipa kennt man mit Zigarette zwischen den Fingern, ebenso Lorde.

Rauchen wird gerade wieder salonfähig, nachdem viele dem ungesunden Laster gefühlt für immer abgeschworen hatten. Lange galt es schlicht als uncool und offensichtlich lebensgefährlich. Doch während vor etwa 20 Jahren die Schüler-VZ-Gruppe "Ich rauche nicht, denn es gibt coolere Wege zu sterben" eine der beliebtesten ihrer Art war, scheint es heute wieder ein akzeptierter Weg zu sein, diese Welt zu verlassen. » |Leonie Wessel | Freitag, 25. Juli 2025

NYT: Pop Culture Takes Up Smoking Again: From movies and TV shows to music, the habit is no longer taboo. It’s even being celebrated for the way it makes characters look cool or powerful. »

David Dimbleby: I Started Smoking in My 70s and Don’t Have a Social Life

THE TELEGRAPH: Despite his outwardly confident appearance, former Question Time host says he finds it difficult to talk to people

Despite appearing confident, David Dimbleby says: 'I’m not sociable at all'
David Dimbleby has revealed that he started smoking in his 70s to cope with “tense” sailing trips, as his wife said he is “really, really shy” and “doesn’t have any friends”.

The 83-year-old veteran broadcaster, best known for formerly presenting the BBC’s Question Time for 25 years, made the comments in an interview to discuss his new memoir.

The award-winning journalist has interviewed almost every British prime minister in contemporary history, anchored 10 consecutive general elections from 1979 to 2017, owned nine local newspapers and been a commentator for several major events - ranging from Richard Nixon's 1969 presidential visit to Princess Diana's funeral. However, in an interview with The Sunday Times Magazine, he admitted that he does not “have a social life” and that he took up smoking roll-ups just over a decade ago to help him relax when he takes his nephews sailing.

He spoke as his new memoir, Keep Talking: A Broadcasting Life, is published, but admitted he did not have anyone to celebrate with. “We don’t have people round,” he said. “I’m not sociable at all.” » | Gabriella Swerlng, Social and Religious Affairs Editor | Saturday, October 22, 2022

Good for you, Mr Dimbleby! Enjoy your smokes! — © Mark Alexander

How Tobacco Prohibition Plunged Australia into Gang Wars

Dec 15, 2025 | Will Kingston, Chris Snowdon and Tom Slater discuss the firebombings of tobacconists in Australia.