Even though the Americans may run the world, it is the British who write about it

"Uptight but witty": What the rest of the world thinks of us:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/britain/article/0,2763,1352259,00.html

John Reid wriggles out of a total ban on smoking in enclosed public places:
http://society.guardian.co.uk/publichealth/story/0,11098,1352116,00.html

Shame on him. I occasionally smoke, but I fully support a ban. If some of us walked around in radiation emitting suits that slowly gave other people cancer, we would be told to take them off. The fact that we were addicted to them wouldn't be seen as an excuse.

On a more personal level, I sang much better in New York, San Francisco and LA, where there is a smoking ban. I regularly have problems with my voice in UK and European clubs.