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

Marlene Dietrich : Lili Marlene | deutsche Version | Reupload

Mar 10, 2009

Rauchen werden die Politiker nie ausradieren können. NIE! Rauchen ist viel zu sexy. Es is auch cool. Es ist immer cool gewesen und wird immer cool sein. Kein Politiker kann diese Tatsache ändern. Möglicherweise wird das Rauchen von Zeit zu Zeit aus der Mode fallen, aber seien Sie sicher, es wird immer wieder in die Mode kommen. Eine Kippe zu rauchen ist für viele ein Hochgenuß. Kein wohlwollender Politiker kann diese Tatsache ändern. — © Mark Alexander

What Is Everyone Talking About This Week: (Whisper It) Is Smoking Back?

COUNTRY LIFE: You’d be forgiven for thinking that young people are a bunch of mopes, who refuse to drink, go dancing or have sex and are ruining British nightlife for all — but you're wrong, says Will Hosie.

Listen to the media (not me, mind) and you’d be forgiven for thinking that young people are a bunch of mopes, who refuse to drink, go dancing or have sex and are ruining British nightlife for all. Rejoice, then, for the tide is turning. A recent book by Norwegian sociologist Willy Pedersen argues that binge drinking in one’s youth can improve career prospects. People have taken note: The Hart in Marylebone, is rammed every night.

Although there’s something to be said for correlation over causation — those who can afford a £7 pint have likely had a leg up in other parts of life — this hasn’t stopped columnists from extolling the virtues of hard living. ‘My generation,’ wrote former British Vogue editor Alexandra Schulman in the Mail on Sunday recently, ‘drank our way to the top.’ With pride, I daresay.

Teenagers addicted to vapes are now using cigarettes to wean themselves off'

They smoked, too — several packs a day. To the chagrin of doctors, nurses and vape lobbyists, the habit is back with a vengeance. Riding the success of her culture-lassoing album, West End Girl, Lily Allen graced the runway last month for 16Arlington sporting a glamorous Holly Golightly-style dress and the ultimate style accessory: a Vogue. » | Will Hosie | Monday, December 8, 2025

ITVX: Smoking to be banned for future generations in Wales as landmark bill voted through: People turning 18 from 2027 will never be able to legally buy cigarettes in Wales. / That's after the Senedd voted to pass a landmark Bill affecting anyone born on or after January 1, 2009. / From 2027, it will become illegal to sell tobacco to anyone who is 18 years old. »

MAJORCA DAILY BULLETIN: Last orders for smoking on bar and restaurant terraces in Spain: Government gets tough as tobacco prices increase again »

No wonder the far right is gaining in strength right across the continent (including in the UK). Politicians have lost all common sense. They sweat the little things whilst the continent is under existential threat from Russia! Are simple pleasures and fun to be outlawed for future generations now? These bans MUST FAIL. They will HAVE TO BE OVERTURNED! And these ridiculous politicians must be kicked out of office.

By the way, I write this as a non-smoker. As an ex-smoker to be precise. In fact, I notice that it is the tenth of December. That being the case, it is precisely THREE YEARS AND EIGHT MONTHS since I smoked my last cigarette. Naturally, as I had been a lifelong smoker, I am very proud of my achievement. In April, it will be exactly four years that I will be smoke-free.

However, smoking gave me years and years of pleasure so, just because I have quit, I do not expect the rest of the world to quit with me. I do not wish to deny others one of life’s greatest pleasures: smoking a fine cigarette, especially with a quality drink.

Were I to be in the position of doing so, there are many things in this world that I might consider banning, but that certainly would not be smoking a humble cigarette.

The western world is turning into a madhouse! — © Mark Alexander

Smoking for the Aesthetics

Aug 12, 2019

HOLY SMOKES All the Royals Who’ve Been Caught with a Sneaky Fag & How Meghan Markle Served ‘200’ Marijuana Joints at First Wedding

THE SUN: ROYAL family members are typically the picture of elegance, but there have been moments when they’ve been spotted doing a rather unroyal habit – smoking.

From Prince Harry to Meghan Markle, members of the famous family have been known to love a crafty fag, even if they have given up now.

This is despite the late Queen being strongly against the bad habit, particularly as her father, King George VI, died of lung cancer in 1952.

This was after three previous monarchs, George V, Edward VII and Edward VIII, all passed away from smoking-related illnesses.

Meanwhile, the Queen’s own sister Princess Margaret was known to smoke up to 60 cigarettes a day, which led to a lung operation in 1985.

Never afraid of speaking her mind, the party-loving royal refused to bow down to pressure from both doctors and members of her family to ditch smoking. However, it is reported she cut down to 30 a day, rather than 60, before her death in 2002.

King Charles is reportedly responsible for revoking the royal warrant for tobacco firm Gallaher in 1998.

But, which nicotine-loving royal family members have been known to love a smoke… » | Becky Pemberton | Wednesday, March 12, 2025

For My 60th Birthday, I’m Taking Up Smoking

THE SPECTATOR: It's a selfish, unhealthy decision – and a joyous, life-affirming one

Next month I will be 60. It’s an unwelcome landmark birthday as far as I’m concerned but they say that taking up a new hobby or pastime is a good way to combat the advances of old age. So I’ve decided to take up smoking.

It was either that or something physical such as cycling or jogging or walking football but, to quote Ronnie Barker in Porridge: ‘What, with these feet?’ Besides, older cyclists look ridiculous, serious runners tend to look ten years older than they really are and as for walking football… what’s the point? No, smoking is easier, more pleasurable, more relaxing and even allows me to multi-task. I can enjoy a Camel Blue while birdwatching, walking the dog or listening to Northern Soul – all of which I also plan to do more of in my sixties. » | Mark Solomons | Monday, November 14, 2022

Smoking - Anatomy of an Addiction Industry | DW Documentary | Reupload

Dec 13, 2024 | Smoking has an image problem, because everyone knows it can kill you. That’s why tobacco multinationals are increasingly focused on e-cigarettes, enticing consumers with bright colors and fruity flavors. The target group: young people.

The World Health Organization says smoking results in the death of eight million people every year. That’s one reason why you’ll now often hear tobacco companies promoting the switch to e-cigarettes, with claims that these are less harmful to our health.

It’s first and foremost young people who believe the industry’s promises, thereby taking the first step on the road to addiction. After all, nicotine is an addictive substance. And although it may taste better than tobacco, puffing on a vape is still going to get you hooked in precisely the same way as smoking a regular cigarette.

The film investigates the cynicism of an industry that not only accepts this, but also deliberately aims for it.

Big Nicotine - Anatomy of an Addiction Industry /TEMPS PRESENT / Laurent Burkhalter & Philippe Mach / 2024 / RTS Radio television Suisse


There is no doubt about it: smoking can kill. But so do many other things! When it comes to consumption, sugar is a case in point. How many people a year does sugar kill? Precise figures are unavailable, but Google has the following to say...

"While there is no single figure for the total number of deaths from all sugar consumption, studies show that sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are linked to hundreds of thousands of deaths annually from related conditions like type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Recent research estimates that SSBs are linked to over 330,000 deaths per year globally. Sugar consumption is a significant factor in cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, which are leading causes of death worldwide.

This figure is an estimate of preventable deaths, suggesting how many fewer people would die if sugary drinks were not consumed at all, and it is based on links to specific diseases:

• 133,000 deaths from diabetes
• 45,000 deaths from cardiovascular (heart) disease
• 6,450 deaths from cancers

More recent research from January 2025 has suggested even higher figures, linking sugary drinks to over 330,000 deaths a year from type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease." — [Source: Google.]

Fact is this: If we gave up everything that could and does kill us, there'd be little left to consume and enjoy! We simply cannot get out of this life alive. — © Mark Alexander

Maldives Becomes the Only Country with Generational Smoking Ban

THE GUARDIAN: Indian Ocean archipelago bans anyone born after 1 January 2007 from buying or using tobacco in order to ‘promote a tobacco-free generation’

The Maldives began implementing a smoking ban on anyone born after January 2007, becoming the only country with a generational prohibition on tobacco, according to its health ministry.

The move, which was initiated by the president, Mohamed Muizzu, earlier this year and came into effect on 1 November, will “protect public health and promote a tobacco-free generation”, the ministry said.

“Under the new provision, individuals born on or after 1 January 2007 are prohibited from purchasing, using, or being sold tobacco products within the Maldives,” it added.

“The ban applies to all forms of tobacco, and retailers are required to verify age prior to sale.”

The measure also applies to visitors to the nation of 1,191 tiny coral islets scattered some 800km (500 miles) across the equator and known for its luxury tourism. » | Agence France-Presse | Saturday, November 1 2025

Les Maldives deviennent le seul pays au monde à introduire une interdiction générationnelle de fumer : La vente de produits de tabac à un mineur est passible d’une amende de 50.000 rufiyaa (environ 2800 euros), tandis que l’utilisation d’appareils de vapotage est passible d’une amende de 5000 rufiyaa (280 euros). »

Wer nach 2006 geboren ist, darf auf den Malediven nicht mehr rauchen: Sommer, Sonne, Rauchverbot: Die Malediven verbieten allen, die nach 2006 geboren wurden, Tabakprodukte. Die Regelung bezieht sich auch auf E-Zigaretten. Und ja, sie gilt auch für Touristen. »

This generational smoking ban will cause more problems than it will ever solve! The first problem with it is this: Young people will find other ways to satisfy their desire to rebel, other ways to get their kicks. And those other ways might well be, nay probably will be, far more injurious to health than tobacco-smoking ever could be.

Keir Starmer has a similar bill working its way through Parliament. He, too, is going to have to learn the hard way that a generational smoking ban will solve NOTHING. He will surely find that such a ban will create far more problems than it will ever solve. We are being led by fools. And killjoys! If this bill successfully passes through Parliament in the UK, when Starmer is kicked out of office, the law will surely have to be repealed. — © Mark Alexander

How Cigarettes Took Over the World

Cigarettes were a prop for bored, scared and hungry soldiers in World War I and World War II.

Meloni: I’d Kill Somebody If I Had to Stop Smoking

THE TELEGRAPH: Giorgia Meloni has said that she would probably kill someone if she had to give up cigarettes.

The Italian prime minister was challenged over her smoking habit at the Gaza summit in Egypt by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish president, who has vowed to make Turkey smoke-free.

“You look great. But I have to make you stop smoking,” he told Ms Meloni, to the laughter of Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron.

“It’s impossible,” the French president said during the meeting on the sidelines of the summit.

“I know, I know,” Ms Meloni said. “I don’t want to kill somebody.”

The 48-year-old recently revealed in a book that she had begun smoking again after quitting 13 years ago.

She also said that her tobacco habit had helped her bond with some foreign leaders, including Kais Saied, the president of Tunisia. » | James Crisp, Europe Editor | Tuesday, October 14, 2025

Giorgia Meloni should have suggested to Erdogan that he give up sugary foods. He's a diabetic. People should learn to give smokers a break. The war on smoking has gone on long enough now. — © Mark Alexander