Smoking in Britain: penny a puff?

Britain's oldest publishing house is trying to root out smoking among its staff by not paying them for the time they spend having a cigarette. Cambridge University Press said it had introduced the policy after a poll of its 200 employees showed the majority did not want smoking in the building.

Diehard smokers now have to go to a special room on the ground floor to have a cigarette and are not paid for the time they spend there, a spokesman for the 450-year-old firm said.

The new policy has persuaded several staffers to kick the habit, he said.