More people smoke in France than in the UK, a staggering 20% more. Throat, mouth and lung cancer kill 78,000 people a year. A possible factor is that French people don’t like to be told what to do. When the government decided to put warnings on cigarette packets, a fashion house brought out jolly covers to slip over the cartons. Smoking ruins the status of France as a healthy country. Cigarettes are only available in a Bar Tabac and not in a supermarket or corner shop. One of my students gave up smoking because she hated having to go into one to buy her weekly supplies.