Perhaps one of the most annoying things for a law-abiding smoker is seeing others openly flout the law and light up in a pub/bar/restaurant (and yes, I am one of the lepers).

But a total of 2,088 people charged between January and October does show that the police are working on it.

In the past, people were told that they had to be the enforcers; they had to be the ones to put the pressure on others not to smoke in nightclubs or wherever. Rather you than me. I would not fancy approaching some brute in a bar, who has probably had about 10 shots of whisky to tell him to stub his fag out. At best, you would get a barrage of expletives; at worst you would get glassed. On the other hand, many people do not want to see uniformed police going around in bars looking for smokers – to be frank it ruins the atmosphere and enjoyment. Spot checks are fair enough, but a consistent presence is an over the top reaction.

Perhaps the best solution to date is in practice, with plainclothes officers keeping an eye out for offenders. But how effective are they?

Well, statistics issued recently by the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs after a question was tabled in Parliament show that between January and October this year, a total of 2088 people were charged in breach of smoking regulations. 2,076 of these were caught smoking in bars and restaurants, two on public transport and 10 specified as “others”. Interestingly, no establishment owners were charged although anyone who goes to bars, pubs and clubs, can tell you that certain owners allow people to smoke, and even provide ashtrays, or they tell people to ash on the floor. It is also common, especially in “Nannu” bars, to see owners or licence holders, joining in a game of cards with the boys and puffing away with the rest of them. If you’re lucky, you might even see a police officer having a fag in the customary “ace up the sleeve” pose. Everyone knows the one, you see officers do it in the street where they have a fag which they deftly cover by holding it up-over in the palm of their hand. But all in all, it’s a good haul and shows that the law is being enforced, at least to a degree.

Underage drinking, as we all know, is a problem for Malta. The statistics beggar belief, especially when one takes a walk round St Julian’s. You see children who are clearly minors drinking on the streets, or passed out on the streets, or in a stinking doorway that has been used as a public toilet and yet, only 14 were detected consuming alcohol in all of Malta this year. Five were caught in Paceville nightspots, three in a Zebbug band club and another six on the streets of St Julian’s. This compares to nine in the whole of 2007... Seriously... more needs to be done. A simple walk up the infamous steps to St George’s Road is all the proof you need. Cigarettes are a definite improvement, but underage drinking clearly needs a much bigger effort to curb it.