The proportion of American adults who smoke has fallen from 42 per cent to under 20 per cent over the past 50 years, the American Journal of Public Health said in July. This suggested, the journal wrote, that the US was halfway through a 100-year war on cigarettes. Now, Thomas Farley , New York's city health commissioner, has resolved to fight on the beaches.

Mr Farley wants to end smoking on beaches and in parks, to add to the city's ban on cigarettes in bars, restaurants and workplaces.