Why is smoking back? Could one reason be loneliness? | Coco Khan

More young people are taking up the habit, and one reason may be a need for the comfort of connection

My GP and I have a friendly relationship. Once, during a telephone appointment, he asked me if I was a smoker. No," I replied, playfully. But maybe next year will be more eventful." That's because I am of the social smoking variety - that cheeky, sneaky (and possibly most annoying) breed. We are the beggars at the barbecue, eyeing up your rolling papers and asking for a small one. The scrounger at the Christmas party, suggesting a twos.

You will know us by our ancient packet of Greek cigarettes found in a kitchen drawer - so old they no longer light - or our giveaways as we exit a wedding: Want the rest of these fags? Take them, I'm not going to smoke them." I can - and have - gone years without smoking, only to periodically step back into the smoking area and exclaim: Wow, it's so much emptier!"

Coco Khan is a commissioning editor for the Guardian and a writer. She is co-host of the politics podcast, Pod Save the UK