THE airline pilots' union is blaming the total bans on smoking on planes for the rocketing number of air rage attacks as, together with trouble caused by excessive drinking, the number of violent incidents with passengers has soared by 400 per cent since 1995 when most flights became smoke-free.

I'm not a smoker, but I don't see why the millions of people who are and fly by plane - and, moreover, are happily sold duty-free fags by the trolley-load by airlines - should be treated like pariahs by the plane companies kowtowing to the health fascists and the politically-correct lobby, especially when depriving them of their nicotine fix is liable to make some of them ratty and unpleasant.

I am not advocating the appeasement of potential air-ragers, but with on-board air-conditioning it is, after all, quite easy to separate the fag addicts from the rest without their fumes annoying non-smokers. After all, smoking is still a lawful activity.

It is, of course, an eloquent commentary on how weak smokers are when they cannot subdue the desire to smoke even for a few hours.

It does not kill them to do so, though the opposite does. But if they could see themselves lighting up the minute it's allowed on landing, they would know how pathetic they are.

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