"Give Adults Freedom of Choice" - The Taxpayers Alliance Talks with Simon Clark

Nov 3, 2023 | Simon Clark, director of smokers' rights group Forest, joins us for this episode of TPA Talks. Reflecting on the upcoming smoking ban after decades of creeping regulation, Simon explains how the war on smokers and the rise of the nanny state have worrying implications for us all - smokers or not

I have been a lifelong Conservative voter, too. But I, like Simon Clark, will never vote for the party again if this ridiculous smoking ban really would be pushed through Parliament. Now, with an election imminent and the Conservatives unlikely to win, the Labour Party is likely to take up this ridiculous and illiberal policy proposal. I speak as an ex-smoker. I gave up smoking in April 2022. I used to smoke twenty cigarettes a day which, back in the day, used to be considered normal, not heavy. Heavy smoking used to be 40 - 60 cigarettes a day! However, with the price of a packet of Marlboro Reds, my cigarettes of choice, brushing £16, it became far too expensive to continue with the habit. So, I gave up. Bang went one of the main pleasures in my life! And I resent that. I object to this Conservative government taking older people's pleasures away from them. I really do. This sort of thing is expected from a more left-wing, socialist government, but not the Tories. — © Mark Alexander

This is one VERY IMPORTANT REASON why I am so against governments interfering with people’s smoking rights. These bans will not stop at smoking. I have said it all along. Now here comes the evidence! Left-wing do-gooders are on the warpath:

Extend success of UK sugar tax to cakes, biscuits and chocolate, experts urge: Exclusive: Co-author of analysis for WHO calls on government to control the food industry rather than being subservient to it »

The War on Smoking: "Give Adults Freedom of Choice" - TPA Talks with Simon Clark

Nov 3, 2023 | Simon Clark, director of smokers' rights group Forest, joins us for this episode of TPA Talks. Reflecting on the upcoming smoking ban after decades of creeping regulation, Simon explains how the war on smokers and the rise of the nanny state have worrying implications for us all - smokers or not.

BORIS JOHNSON: Rishi's smoking ban is barmy. Child A will be free to smoke like a chimney to the end of his days. Child B - born only a day later - will be a criminal if he does... How the hell is that supposed to work? »

I am an ex-smoker, but still, I am very much against this progressive smoking ban for young people. Firstly, it is undemocratic; secondly, this government has far more important things to concern itself with than a few young people taking up the smoking habit.

For starters, increasingly few young people do take up the habit these days; they prefer to vape. But then it must be said that one can hardly expect a young person to go to war for his country if he is not allowed a cigarette after battle. Take a look at how many Ukrainian soldiers are pictured with cigarettes!

Were I to have a son and he were he to be expected to fight for his country, I would be very unhappy if he were denied the simple pleasure of smoking a cigarette. Frankly, in this world, if the worst that a young person does is smoke a cigarette and enjoy a drink of alcohol twixt cradle and grave, I would consider myself a rip-roaring success as a father! People get up to far, far worse than smoking tobacco these days.

In any case, even though I no longer smoke, I am still against this ban. Successive governments have made the enjoyable habit of smoking far too expensive for most people, Here in the UK, a pack of Marlboro Reds is brushing £15 in many places! And the price increases each and every budget. This is deliberate government policy in order to curtail people's smoking and the pleasure smokers derive from it.

I stopped smoking in April 2022. And at that time, Marlboro Reds were precisely £12.50 a packet when I quit. Today, depending on where you live and on where you buy your cigarettes, the price of a pack is already up to £2 more! A £2 increase in price in that short time! That's crazy! I derived hours and hours of pleasure from smoking cigarettes. Alas, at these prices, no longer.

Even though it goes against the narrative of the health Nazis, there are actually health benefits to smoking. Just as an example, smokers or ex-smokers, are far less likely to contract Parkinson’s disease. There might even be a link to inhibiting the development of Alzheimer’s disease! There are also other health benefits, one being that it inhibits the development of type-2 diabetes.

Sunak knows nothing of these things. He is living in darkness. He should keep out of it and stop interfering in people's private lives. He needs to start behaving like a true Conservative. – © Mark Alexander