The Williams Holdings chairman and his management team have presided over a massive pounds 720m transfer of value to shareholders, encompassing special dividends and the distribution of the group's holding in the National Grid, over and above normal dividend payments. But the shares slid 12p to 554p yesterday on disappointment at last year's total dividend increase of 9 per cent (to 31.6p) and comments which appeared to pour further cold water on bid prospects. Generous by most standards, East Midlands' policy of rewarding shareholders has gone hand in hand with a decision to abandon the original post-privatisation management's diversification policy and concentrate on the core electricity business. For decades, cigarettes promoted the perfect image of chic and sophistication - an essential social accessory and a vital ingredient of many of the greatest scenes in the cinema. As one of the school's official "peer educators", he preaches the dangers of smoking to his friends, all of whom smoke.

And Melissa Sheppard, 12, also a peer educator, is adamant: "If I'm offered a cigarette by friends I say, `No I'm just a better person I'm not that stupid'.". There's nothing that would make me give up - unless I found out I'd got lung cancer. If they cost pounds 5 a packet I'd just have to make them last."To Sam Knight, 14, smoking one cigarette is "like taking a few mouthfuls of the pollution in London on a hot day".Nathan Wilson, 12, is having none of it. With smoking it's a gradual thing so you can find out and stop. I certainly wouldn't be buying them myself," said Michelle, who smokes to stay slim.

"You can smoke instead of eat," she enthused.A smoker since the age of 11, Deborah Holtham, 17, has smoked more in the last year than ever before. "Since it's been legal I've smoked more and my mum knows now so it's easier," she said.Deborah knows the risks, but reasons: "You could get run over crossing the road."There are things that are far worse for you, she says, like drugs "Drugs kill straight away. She thought about giving up once, but to no avail."My auntie was in hospital from a collapsed lung. Mum said I should stop smoking because I might turn out like that. I was scared and told her I was going to give up, but I didn't It wasn't like dying so I didn't think it was that bad.