i find ebay fantastic for bargains. a lot of my cd's come from belarus and america, cos even with the postage on top of the cost, they are usually less than half the cost in hmv. and as for mp3's and copying cd's, no thank you. and dave mustaine, i am a student too, but i have to say who gives a fuck about student debt? you're only young once, take the opportunity while it's there. and i'd rather spend money on cd's, something i can enjoy for ages, than pissing all my money down a toilet after some ridiculous drinking binge that you regret in the morning.

yeh of course it would - this world would be a great place if no-one smoked, drank, got stoned etc etc. but it's not up to governments to tell us how to live our lives. if they dont like smoking, they should ban cigarettes, not stop us from smoking them. They make a fortune on tobacco sales anyway, now they will make even more by catching people smoking in public places. They don't give a shit about our health they just want more money. Governments must control how we behave in public - yes. We cant all go around beating eachother up. But there are other ways of keeping the peace.

It should and must be up to us to decide if we want to smoke or not. They are more than welcome to stick on those horrible adverts with choking dying smokers on the telly, but if I deicde to quit then it'll be for my own reasons, not cos they threaten me with fines.

Sticking us smokers in the corner of the pub is fine by me. But banning it altogether just wreaks of dictatorship. TBH im very surprised that it was Ireland to do this before England. Tony was on such a roll with the whole war thing.

What happened to human rights?

I'm with you on all of those points, and it should be up to the individuals to decide if they smoke or not. Which is precisely the reason a public smoking ban makes sense. Non-smokers do not have the choice if there are people smoking in the vicinity. If there's someone smoking near you, you're going to breathe thair smoke. So the decision is lost.

At the very least, people smoking while pregnant should be outlawed, because what choice does the baby have?

Yep well said. But you gotta realise that passive smoking is pretty nonexistant. We breath huge amounts of fumes and toxins every day just walking in the street, eating crap food etc etc. Passive smoking is another angle that the government took that's all. Sure it's not nice to breathe someone else's smoke that's for sure. I'm a smoker and I hate breathing someone else's smoke!

But you know what, as long as there are non-smoking and smoking areas then everyone at least has a choice and I think that's far more effective than a blanket ban like this. Part of smoking is being a little rebellious. If we are told "NO you cant do that" then that just fules the rebellion further. Sounds pathetic but it's true.

My parents just gave up smoking - they smoked for like 25 years. They chose to give up to save money and sort their health out. They were also embarassed at social occasions where most of their friends didn't smoke. Social pressure not to smoke is FAR more effective than some guilt-making advert or a blanket ban.