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Lily Allen Alleged to Have Broken Smoking Ban

Once upon a time it was what musicians smoked that caused uproar yet in these more sedate times, it's the simple act of sparking up a cigarette that's likely to cause a furore. Just ask Lily Allen.

The singer has -- ahem -- sparked an investigation by Liverpool City Council after she was alleged to have been seen smoking during her concert at the city's Echo Arena last Wednesday (Dec. 9).

A spokesperson confirmed that the council was liaising with the venue to establish whether Allen was in contravention of workplace legislation or not following a review in a local paper which mentioned the incident.

The council is now appealing for witnesses to step forward to confirm the allegation.

This isn't the first incidence of the smoking ban being flouted by rock stars. Rolling Stones Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood puffed merrily away during a concert at the O2 Arena in London in August 2007 though neither the venue nor guitarists were fined after Greenwich Council said it was satisfied that the incident was a one-off.

If the Liverpool allegations are upheld, both Allen and the venue face a fine.

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December 14 2009 at 9:22 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
gene


A tiny handful of spammers like generalsn (google him or his text--sometimes he's "Bob") have turned the nation's message boards into their own personal PR bullhorn. They swarm every single story about smoking. Just as in the past, when every newspaper story about smoking got the tagline, "But the Tobacco Insitute says the study is flawed," the goal remains (as a tobacco company put it): "Doubt is our Product."

Whether to justify their own addiction or their PR firm salaries, these profligate spammers are thoroughly despicable, and, judging by their very ends-justify-the-means tactics, not to be trusted.

Message boards will soon be useless because of spamming by fanatical interest groups like these pro-tobacco nuts.

December 14 2009 at 5:16 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Bob

When anti smoking people were using education as their primary method, the smoking rates were steadily declining for 40 years. Now that they got into invasive bans using snitchlines and law enforcement for privately owned businesses, many, even non smokers, have the opinion that they crossed the line. In the 60s, people burned draft cards to protest. Now they will be lighting cigarettes in bars.

December 14 2009 at 1:47 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply