It has been proposed that the college at which I work should now be a ‘Smoke Free Zone’. At present, smokers have an allocated area beside the parking area. I have come to accept the need to separate smokers from non-smokers, but now it seems our right to smoke outside is to be curtailed, too. I need a cigarette!

I have noted a recent trend of using the term ‘Smoke Free Zone’ in job advertisements, suggesting that any part of the college including outdoor areas is prohibited to smokers. The inference is that staff smoking is bad for the college’s image; it can’t be about health or we’d all work fewer hours. This is tosh of course, but I do share concerns about the amount of time staff take for ‘fag breaks’ each week. I expect it is commensurate with those staff for whom tea is an essential emollient.