The war on e-cigarettes is enough to make me give up giving up

I have been, on and off, a lifelong smoker; but I gave up in January 2009 on the day of Barack Obama’s inauguration as President of the United States. It was out of feelings of solidarity with the poor man, who I assumed (incorrectly, as it turned out) would have to quit too when he took office; for Hillary Clinton, as First Lady, had ruled that there should never be any smoking in the White House. I myself remained primly smoke-free for five and a half years, but took up cigarettes again in June when I became editor of The Oldie.

Before that I had edited four other magazines, including this one, and had always had a cigarette on the go for most of the time. I think I couldn’t imagine editing anything without one. But, given the poor condition of my lungs, as well as the illegality of smoking in an office, I thought I had better try to give up again, even though Auberon Waugh used to say that smokers were generally nicer people than non-smokers.