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Creating a smoke-free generation.
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This is News Review from BBC Learning English, where we help you understand news headlines in English. I'm Neil.
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And I'm Beth.
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Make sure you watch to the end to learn all the vocabulary you need to talk about this story.
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And remember to subscribe to our channel so you can learn more English from news headlines.
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Now the story.
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Buying cigarettes is to become illegal for anyone born after 2009, for their whole life.
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Lawmakers in the UK have approved a government plan to create a smoke-free generation.
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The law will make the sale of tobacco products, but not the act of smoking, illegal.
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Tobacco use is the UK's single biggest preventable cause of death, killing 80,000 people every year.
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You've been looking at the headlines, Beth. What's the vocabulary people need to understand this story in English?
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We have 'backlash,' 'derail,' and 'nuts.'
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This is News Review from BBC Learning English.
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Let's have our first headline.
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This is from the Financial Times: Rishi Sunak faces Tory backlash against long-term smoking ban.
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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.
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We are looking at 'backlash.' It's made of two parts, and it's helpful to break them down.
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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.
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Now the original meaning was machinery that, when it broke, went backwards.
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And it still has that kind of meaning, but used metaphorically because backlash is a strong rejection of something.
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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.
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And so there is a backlash. They reject the idea.
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We can also use this, for example, to talk about a school which tries to ban junk food.
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The kids really want junk food. There could be a backlash against that decision.
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Yes. Now, it is often used for these large-scale, serious events that maybe affect the public.
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Not really used for everyday personal situations.
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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.
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But I wouldn't say there's been a backlash against the idea. It just sounds a bit strange.
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It does sound strange.
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There is an alternative word to backlash with a very similar meaning, outcry.
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But again, used for sort of large-scale, serious things.
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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.
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Let's look at that again.
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Let's have a look at our next headline.
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This is from The Guardian: Tabacco firms lobbying MPs to derail smoking phase-out, charity warns.
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So this headline means that tobacco firms, that's tobacco companies, have been lobbying MPs.
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Lobbying is trying to influence the decisions that MPs make.
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We're looking, though, at derail, a word we can break up into two parts, de, and rail. Rail is connected to trains, Beth.
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Well, there are definitely no trains being talked about here in this headline.
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But the literal meaning of derail is for a train to come off its tracks.
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Here it's metaphorical, and it means [to] prevent something from reaching its final place.
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OK, yeah, so when a train derails, it literally can't get to its destination.
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Here, in the metaphorical use in the headline, it means this idea, this proposal, can't get to its final metaphorical destination.
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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.
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And thinking about that, Neil, in my town, they have decided to build some flats in a park.
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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.
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But again, that is a big, serious situation. Derail is not really used for personal, everyday things.
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My friends will hopefully, you know, not derail the plans for the birthday party. Or we wouldn't say that, at least.
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No, it sounds way too formal, doesn't it?
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Yeah.
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Alternatives to derail with a very similar meaning are scupper and sabotage. Again, for big, serious things.
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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.
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Oh yeah.
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Let's look at that again.
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Let's have our next headline.
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This is from BBC News: Rishi Sunak's attempts to ban smoking is nuts, says Boris Johnson.
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So, this headline is about something the former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said about Rishi Sunak's plans to ban smoking.
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He said they are nuts. Nuts, Beth! That's a food. So, why is there a reference to food in this headline about smoking?
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Well, they're not talking about food here at all. Here, nuts means crazy.
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So, Boris Johnson saying banning smoking is nuts means he thinks it's crazy.
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And it is often used with ideas and suggestions.
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Neil, you are running a marathon soon and you haven't done any training yet. That is nuts.
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Now, something interesting about this word is that it is an adjective, but it's usually used after the noun.
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We can say that idea is nuts, but you wouldn't say it's a nuts idea. Sounds a bit strange.
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Okay. So, is this a common thing in English? Can we use food to mean crazy? Can I say that the idea is apples?
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You can't say it's apples, but you can say it's bananas.
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So, bananas is another way of saying crazy. Also, crackers. That idea is crackers.
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A different word not related to food would be bonkers.
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Okay. Yes, bonkers. That's a good word. It's a bonkers idea for you to have a party without me.
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Let's look at that again.
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We've had backlash – strong rejection of an idea.
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Derail – stop a plan.
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And nuts – crazy.
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Now, if you're interested in learning more about the language of health, click here.
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Don't forget to click here to subscribe to our channel so you never miss another video.
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Thank you for joining us and goodbye.
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Bye.
