Banning smoking for life: BBC News Review

Creating a smoke-free generation.

This is News Review from BBC

Learning English, where we help you understand news headlines in English.

I'm Neil. And I'm Beth.

Make sure you watch to the end to learn all the vocabulary

you need to talk about this story.

And remember to subscribe to our channel

so you can learn more English from news headlines.

Now, the story.

Buying cigarettes is to become illegal for anyone born

after 2009, for their whole life.

Lawmakers in the UK

have approved a government plan to create a smoke-free generation.

The law will make the sale of tobacco products,

but not the act of smoking, illegal. Tobacco use is

the UK's single biggest preventable cause of death,

killing 80,000 people every year.

You've been looking at the headlines,

Beth. What's the vocabulary

people need to understand this story in English?

We have 'backlash', 'derail' and 'nuts'.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

Let's have our first headline.

This is from the Financial Times.

Rishi Sunak faces Tory backlash against long-term smoking ban.

OK, so this headline says that Rishi Sunak, who is the Prime Minister

of the United Kingdom, is facing a backlash from members of his own party.

That's the Tory party,

that's a nickname for conservative.

We are looking at 'backlash'.

It's made of two parts and it's helpful to break them down.

Yes. So, the first part is 'back', which is the opposite of going forwards

and the second part is 'lash',

which means to hit hard like this. Now, the original meaning was machinery

that when it broke went backwards and it still has that kind of meaning,

but used metaphorically

because 'backlash' is a strong rejection of something.

Yes, and that's what this headline is saying - that there are members

of Rishi Sunak's own party who really don't like this idea,

this proposal, to ban smoking, and so there is a backlash

- they reject the idea.

We can also use this, for example, to talk about a school

which tries to ban junk food.

The kids really want junk food.

There could be a backlash against that decision.

Yes. Now, it is often used for these large-scale, serious events

that maybe affect the public.

Not really used for everyday personal situations.

Now Neil, I'm having a birthday party this weekend.

We're going to karaoke and some of my friends don't really like singing,

but I wouldn't say there's been a backlash against the idea.

It just sounds a bit strange.

It does sound strange.

There is an alternative word.

to backlash with a very similar meaning 'outcry'.

But again, used for sort of large-scale, serious things

and so I wouldn't say that there was an outcry

against your decision to go to karaoke.

Even though I haven't been invited.

Let's look at that again.

Let's have a look at our next headline.

This is from the Guardian.

Tobacco firms lobbying MPs to derail smoking phase-out, charity warns.

So, this headline means that tobacco firms,

that's tobacco companies, have been lobbying MPs.

Lobbying is trying to influence the decisions that MPs make.

We're looking though at 'derail', a word

we can break up into two parts 'de' and 'rail'. 'Rail' is connected to trains, Beth.

Well, there are definitely no trains being talked about here in this headline.

But the literal meaning of derail is for a train to come off its tracks.

Here, it's metaphorical and it means prevent something

from reaching its final place.

OK, yeah.

So, when a train derails, it literally can't get to its destination. Here

in the metaphorical use in the headline.

It means this idea,

this proposal, can't get to its final metaphorical destination.

Yes, that's right.

Now, this is very often used for plans,

the word 'derail', and quite often controversial ones like smoking -

it is a controversial topic.

And thinking about that Neil, in my town,

they have decided to build some flats in a park.

A lot of people are not happy about it

and they are trying to derail it.

They've set up a group to derail it. But again,

that is a big, serious situation. 'Derail' is not really used

for personal everyday things.

My friends will hopefully, you know, not derail the plans

for the birthday party.

We wouldn't say that at least.

No, it sounds way too formal, doesn't it. Yeah.

Alternatives to 'derail' with a very similar meaning are 'scupper'

and 'sabotage', again for big, serious things.

But for more low-scale,

  less-serious events like your party

that you haven't invited me to,

we could use 'wreck', for example.

I might try and wreck

your plans.

Oh yeah?

Let's look at that again.

Let's have our next headline.

This is from BBC News.

Rishi Sunak's attempt to ban smoking is nuts, says Boris Johnson.

So, this headline is about something

the former UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson said about Rishi Sunak's

plans to ban smoking.

He said they are nuts.

Nuts, Beth? That's a food.

So, why is there a reference to food in this headline about smoking?

Well, they're not talking about food here at all.

Here, 'nuts' means crazy.

So, Boris Johnson saying banning smoking is nuts means he thinks it's crazy.

And it is often used with ideas and suggestions.

Neil, you are running a marathon soon

and you haven't done any training yet.

That is nuts.

Now, something interesting about this word is

that it is an adjective but it's usually used after the noun.

We can say that idea is nuts.

But you wouldn't say it's a nuts idea.

Sounds a bit strange.

OK, so is this a common thing in English?

Can we use food to mean crazy?

Can I say that idea is 'apples'?

You can't say it's 'apples', but you can say it's 'bananas'.

So, bananas is another way of saying crazy.

Also, 'crackers' - that idea is

crackers. A different word

not related to food would be 'bonkers'.

OK, yes. Bonkers, that's a good word.

It's a bonkers idea for you to have a party without me.

Let's look at that again.

We've had

'backlash' - strong rejection of an idea.

'Derail' - stop a plan.

And 'nuts' - crazy.

Now, if you're interested in learning more about

the language of health, click here.

Don't forget to click here to subscribe to our channel,

so you never miss another video.

Thank you for joining us. And goodbye. Bye.