National No Smoking Day

Smoking. Not that old chestnut. Even my two-year old knows it's bad for you.

Smart kid. Wonder where she gets it from. But did you know she's more likely to start smoking than a boy?

Although in the UK slightly more men then women smoke (27% to 25% according to latest Office of National Statistics figures), the opposite is the case among young smokers - 29% of 16-19 year-old women smoke compared with 22% of men. Among 11-15 year-olds, 12% of girls smoke regularly compared to 9% of boys.

At last, a health stat where men are doing better.

Not so fast. More women may start smoking but they also appear more likely to try to quit. Figures from the NHS Stop Smoking Services for 2003-4 show that 57% of those who set 'quit dates' were women. The result is that it is still blokes who are dying. Every week smoking kills 1,600 people in England - 62% of these are men.

Better stub this out, then. Lucky that as a Scouser I can see the funny side.

You'll need to. Regional research by the Health Development Agency shows north Liverpool has the most smoking-related deaths in the country — in 1998-2002, 43% of deaths in people over 35 were due to smoking. Knowsley on Merseyside and central Liverpool also had rates over 40% as did Tower Hamlets, Islington and Southwark in London, Harlow in Essex and east Hull.

Smoking's less popular today anyway. By the time little Britney's old enough it will yesterday's fad.

Actually, although smoking has gone down considerably since 1974 when 45% of us smoked, levels have stabilised since 1992 at about 26-27%. That's why new measures like bans are necessary.

Most smokers — 70% - would like to quit and, according to the HDA, smoke-free workplaces can encourage this and reduce the prevalence of smoking by about 4%.