Smoking is the biggest avoidable cause of death in Britain and great efforts have been made to reduce it.

In the Fifties, when smoking was at its height, more than two third of adults smoked. Now that is down to one third.

Smoking was then allowed in public places such as cinemas, buses, trains and theatres. Now it is banned in all of them. It's also barred in most offices and even in a number of restaurants.

Terry Blair-Stevens, healthy city manager at Brighton and Hove Primary Care Trust, wants to go a step further.

His aim is to stop smoking in all enclosed public places such as pubs, clubs and shopping centres without bringing in a complete ban.

He's right to treat smoking as a top health priority in the city. It is the major cause of chronic heart disease, cancer and strokes.

The trouble is that these effects usually come after many years rather than immediately. By then it is often too late to treat the disease or stop smoking.

What people do in private is up to them. But there is an overwhelming health case for making public places smoke free.

It would be supported by the vast majority of people who do not smoke and a substantial number of those who do.

In another half century, it's likely there will be little or any smoking left. But thousands of people will have died