A Martian flying past Earth on holiday might be forgiven for believing that the head of a human is always perched at 45 degrees to the shoulder, and that a lot of them love being huddled together with smoke coming off their fingers.

The alien is of course observing two phenomena of our modern so-called civilised life: first, the reading of the BlackBerry and iPhone; and second, the gathering of defiant smokers continuing to enjoy spiritual sustenance with tobacco, which provides the UK government with ￡4bn worth of tax every year.

I always lay a bet against myself on arrival in a plane on the number of people I see who don’t automatically take out their BlackBerries and iPhones and start reading and typing. Usually, I go for a modest 10-20 per cent, but lately I have been losing. I rarely see anyone who does not engage with their electronic device at the moment they get up from their seat in the cabin. It is as if a dog had been shut up in a cage for hours and is desperate to seek relief.