It appals me that our king has joined our unelected prime minister in calling for an incremental smoking ban. However, it doesn’t surprise me, since as Prince of Wales, he had a history of involving himself in political affairs, even though we all know that our monarch is supposed to stay well out of politics.
Both our king and our prime minister are unelected. Therefore, they have no right whatsoever in a so-called democracy to make decisions on the people’s behalf.
The mere idea of banning smoking for adults — a habit which brings great pleasure to many adults even to this day — is undemocratic, autocratic, in fact, and, quite frankly, stupid. There are far more unhealthy habits than smoking cigarettes. Excessive sugar consumption springs quickly to mind, alcohol consumption, the smoking of marijuana and cannabis, and the use of ketamine, and increasingly, of cocaine. How many young people have a cocaine habit, I wonder? London is, in fact, said to be the cocaine capital of the world.
So, cigarette-smoking is the least of our concerns.
I would be the last person on earth to advocate smoking. However, I must admit, until nearly two years ago, I had a twenty-a-day habit, which brought me enormous pleasure. It also kept me slim and free of type-2 diabetes. Since quitting, I have gained weight quickly; and this worries me. Why? Because I know that my metabolism has slowed right down since I gave up. I am not gaining weight because I am eating more; rather, I am gaining weight because of my now slow metabolism.
You can talk of lung cancer, and lung cancer is a terrible thing. But the fact remains that only about 5 – 10% of HEAVY smokers contract it. Indeed, I recently read of an Israeli rabbi many years over a hundred who died of old age despite being an extremely heavy smoker. Like 60 cigarettes a day!
Please do not misconstrue my message: I neither advocate smoking nor condone it. However, I do defend the right of an adult to make his own choice without people in the Establishment interfering in their decisions. (By the way, I am not a republican. Far from it. However, interference like this could push me in that direction.)
The NHS argument holds no water. Smokers contribute approximately £10.5b in taxes, whereas they cost the NHS only £3.5b.
It should also be remembered that a person’s health is more than being about remaining cancer-free. One also wants to be free of Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease and type-2 diabetes. One also wishes to remain as slim as possible. Nobody wants to be obese. Smoking has a protective effect on all these maladies.
It is imperative that we look at the big picture; it is also imperative that we keep meddlesome people out of our decision-making process.
If you wish to ban anything, ban meddlesome people from interfering in the democratic process. Keep people’s right to choose. Ban interference from the Nanny State.
© Mark Alexander
All Rights Reserved
Oh God! Here we go again! When is the risk of type-2 diabetes reduced after quitting sugar? Or the risk of a car accident when you quit driving your car? Or the risk of liver disease after you quit drinking alcohol? Or the risk of an STD once you quit sexual contact with your partner, straight or gay? Unfortunately, life is for living; and we cannot get out of this life alive. All this preaching is oh so tiresome. For heaven's sake, live and let live! It behoves us all to live moderately; and to enjoy life, to get our kicks where and when we can. One of these fine days we will not wake up! We'll all be dead! – © Mark Alexander
Showing posts with label incremental smoking ban. Show all posts
Showing posts with label incremental smoking ban. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 06, 2024
Saturday, February 03, 2024
Vape Ban, Smoking Ban: Rishi Sunak's "Nanny State" | The New Statesman Podcast
The mere idea of having a smoking ban for an adult is OUTRAGEOUS! Kick Sunak OUT of OFFICE NOW!
By the way: Maybe Sunak’s daughters will one day fall in love with, and marry, smokers. What a delightful, delicious thought! – © Mark Alexander
Tuesday, January 30, 2024
Whisper It, but in Opposing Rishi Sunak’s Smoking Ban, Liz Truss Might Be Right
THE GUARDIAN: Restricting flavoured vapes make sense, but halting tobacco sales altogether for all entering adulthood is bizarre
Screengrab from the Guardian: ‘Smoking is both enjoyable and harmful. The state’s job is to regulate the balance.’ Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA
At least twice as many school pupils smoke cannabis as smoke tobacco. Cannabis is illegal, tobacco is legal. If legality meant anything, the figures should be the other way round.
Smoking, like alcohol and narcotic drugs, is both enjoyable and harmful. The state’s job is to regulate the balance. Health education, together with nudge measures like banning smoking in public places, have cut tobacco consumption steadily since 2000. The number of smokers has fallen in the past decade from 20% to 13% of the population. The one alarming development has been the use of vaping by children, with more than 20% of 11 to 17-year-olds now saying they’ve tried it, which is why the government’s proposed restriction on flavoured vapes is long overdue and is rightly directed at manufacturers blatantly promoting them to teenagers. How effective it would be remains to be seen.
Rishi Sunak’s plan to ban tobacco sales altogether for all entering adulthood, however, is bizarre. … » | Simon Jenkins | Monday, January 29, 2024
It is to be hoped that this legislation will fail, for if it doesn't, what will be next? Alcohol? Doughnuts? Meat? The possibilities are endless. In the name of God, stop this freakery! – © Mark Alexander
At least twice as many school pupils smoke cannabis as smoke tobacco. Cannabis is illegal, tobacco is legal. If legality meant anything, the figures should be the other way round.
Smoking, like alcohol and narcotic drugs, is both enjoyable and harmful. The state’s job is to regulate the balance. Health education, together with nudge measures like banning smoking in public places, have cut tobacco consumption steadily since 2000. The number of smokers has fallen in the past decade from 20% to 13% of the population. The one alarming development has been the use of vaping by children, with more than 20% of 11 to 17-year-olds now saying they’ve tried it, which is why the government’s proposed restriction on flavoured vapes is long overdue and is rightly directed at manufacturers blatantly promoting them to teenagers. How effective it would be remains to be seen.
Rishi Sunak’s plan to ban tobacco sales altogether for all entering adulthood, however, is bizarre. … » | Simon Jenkins | Monday, January 29, 2024
It is to be hoped that this legislation will fail, for if it doesn't, what will be next? Alcohol? Doughnuts? Meat? The possibilities are endless. In the name of God, stop this freakery! – © Mark Alexander
Nigel Farage on Sunak’s New, Stupid, Insane Incremental Smoking Ban | #shorts
Monday, January 29, 2024
Liz Truss Says Sunak’s Plan to Gradually Ban Cigarette Sales Is ‘Absurd' and 'Profoundly Unconservative’
THE GUARDIAN: “While the state has a duty to protect children from harm, in a free society, adults must be able to make their own choices about their own lives.
Banning the sale of tobacco products to anyone born in 2009 or later will create an absurd situation where adults enjoy different rights based on their birthdate.
A Conservative government should not be seeking to extend the nanny state. This will only give succour to those who wish to ban further choices of which they don’t approve.
The newly-elected National government in New Zealand is already reversing the generational tobacco ban proposed by the previous administration.
The government urgently needs to follow suit and reverse this profoundly unconservative policy." » | Quotation: Liz Truss | Date unknown | From today’s Guardian.
For once, I fully agree with Liz Truss on this absurd policy. It should be stopped with despatch. This is profoundly undemocratic, unworkable and unpoliceable. As Liz Truss says, adults should be able to make up their own minds on whether they smoke. Besides, there are known health benefits to smoking in moderation. The devil is in the dose. But even if there weren’t, it’s my life, my choice. Keep governments OUT of people’s PRIVATE lives. What comes next? A ban on drinking alcohol?
We are soon to be in the situation in which two men will be able to kiss in public, but not enjoy a smoke together! How absurd is that? (And I speak as a gay man!)
Furthermore, with WWIII possibly just around the corner, does this mean that our boys will be sent to fight for King and country, but won’t be allowed to enjoy a cigarette for relaxation after battles?
Kick Sunak out of office asap! The man is out of his depth. – © Mark Alexander
UK Government urged to follow New Zealand and scrap tobacco sales ban »
Tobacco sales ban: PM accused of "creeping prohibition" »
Friday, January 19, 2024
Tobacco Giant Threatened Sunak with Legal Action over Smoking Bill
THE TELEGRAPH: Philip Morris attempted to delay Tory plans to phase out smoking, but then changed course after amendments to government consultation
Rishi Sunak hopes to pass legislation which would raise the age at which people can buy tobacco products CREDIT: CARL COURT/GETTY
Tobacco giant Philip Morris threatened legal action in an attempt to block Rishi Sunak’s plans to phase out smoking. A parliamentary vote is due to take place next month about landmark legislation which would raise the age at which people can buy tobacco products – currently 18 – by a year, every year.
Health officials feared that the legal threat over the matter could have ended up in the High Court, causing lengthy delays before any laws could be passed. » | Laura Donnelly, Health Editor and Robert Mendick, Chief Reporter |Thursday, January 18, 2024
This law should never be passed. It is undemocratic and stupid. If the worst a young person does in life is smoke a few cigarettes, he'll be doing pretty well. Young people these days, I am told, are more likely to snort cocaine than light up! So does this silly man think that we will be living in a health utopia if all people stop smoking cigarettes? If he does, the man is very naïve.
In an age in which Western countries are busy relaxing laws on marijuana and cannabis, it seems rather asinine to try and pass legislation for something relatively far less harmful than drugs. It happens to be a fact that cigarette smoking does not cause lung cancer in all smokers. In fact, it DOES NOT cause lunhg cancer in more than 5 - 10% of smokers. This study suggests the reason why this might be so.
Discourage smoking by all means, but don't take a person's right to smoke away from him/her. What will be next? The right to enjoy a drink of alcohol? If this man is allowed to remain in power, it shouldn't surprise us. The man ios a non-smoking teetotaller. It is time for him to retire to California. They like people like that over there. Unfortunately, Keir Starmer is no better. – © Mark Alexander
Tobacco giant Philip Morris threatened legal action in an attempt to block Rishi Sunak’s plans to phase out smoking. A parliamentary vote is due to take place next month about landmark legislation which would raise the age at which people can buy tobacco products – currently 18 – by a year, every year.
Health officials feared that the legal threat over the matter could have ended up in the High Court, causing lengthy delays before any laws could be passed. » | Laura Donnelly, Health Editor and Robert Mendick, Chief Reporter |Thursday, January 18, 2024
This law should never be passed. It is undemocratic and stupid. If the worst a young person does in life is smoke a few cigarettes, he'll be doing pretty well. Young people these days, I am told, are more likely to snort cocaine than light up! So does this silly man think that we will be living in a health utopia if all people stop smoking cigarettes? If he does, the man is very naïve.
In an age in which Western countries are busy relaxing laws on marijuana and cannabis, it seems rather asinine to try and pass legislation for something relatively far less harmful than drugs. It happens to be a fact that cigarette smoking does not cause lung cancer in all smokers. In fact, it DOES NOT cause lunhg cancer in more than 5 - 10% of smokers. This study suggests the reason why this might be so.
Discourage smoking by all means, but don't take a person's right to smoke away from him/her. What will be next? The right to enjoy a drink of alcohol? If this man is allowed to remain in power, it shouldn't surprise us. The man ios a non-smoking teetotaller. It is time for him to retire to California. They like people like that over there. Unfortunately, Keir Starmer is no better. – © Mark Alexander
Wednesday, December 06, 2023
Freedom up in Smoke – Baroness Fox of Buckley
In these troubled times, one would think that Rishi Sunak would have far, far more important things to think about than whether a young man, or woman, takes up the smoking habit, which is their right in a democracy.
Who does this little dictator think he is? Many dictators in history have been short. Rishi Sunak is no exception to the rule.
If this absurd law goes ahead, one day, it will have to be repealed. New Zealand has abandoned the silly little law; the new right-wing government there could probably see how undemocratic and how unworkable it would have been in practice. And we Brits will have to abandon it too. In any case, the power and influence of the Tories is in steep decline – people have had enough of their silly little, unworkable ideas and the chaos they have brought with them.
Margaret Thatcher, although not a smoker herself, would never have introduced such a silly, unworkable, undemocratic law. She respected liberty and people's rights too much.
It is clear to me that Rishi Sunak is like a schoolboy trying to function in a man's world. – © Mark Alexander
Tuesday, November 28, 2023
New Zealand’s New Government Says It Will Scrap Smoking Ban
THE NEW YORK TIMES: The law, celebrated as a model for other countries, would have eventually made tobacco illegal.
New Zealand’s new prime minister, Christopher Luxon, leads a government that is the country’s most right-wing in a generation. | Marty Melville/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
New Zealand’s new right-wing government has said it will repeal a law that would have gradually banned all cigarette sales in the country over the course of several decades.
The law, passed by a previous government led by Jacinda Ardern, a prime minister who became an international liberal icon, took effect this year and was celebrated as a potential model that other countries might someday follow. It would have gradually introduced changes in retail cigarette sales and licensing over several years until tobacco could eventually no longer be legally sold in New Zealand.
By Jan. 1, 2027, the law would have made it illegal to sell tobacco products like cigarettes, to anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 2009, according to the government. The law would then have gradually raised the smoking age, year by year, until it covered the entire population.
But last week, the new government said in published agreements between the three coalition partners that it would repeal the law, without explaining why.
The incoming finance minister, Nicola Willis, later told Radio New Zealand that the Ardern government’s plans to restrict sales of tobacco and reduce the amount of nicotine in cigarettes could have led to a “massive black market.” » | Mike Ives and Natasha Frost | Tuesday, November 28, 2023
Even though I am no longer a smoker, this is about the most welcome news I have heard in a long time. Why? Because it may signal the start of a return to common sense in matters related to smoking and the enjoyment of tobacco products. In recent years, one has been able to feel the ever-tightening grip of the health Nazis – they have been choking off all pleasures and enjoyment in life.
For very many people, a smoke is one of life’s daily pleasures. Indeed for some less fortunate people, it can be one of the few pleasures they can look forward to after a hard day’s work. What gives these do-gooding health Nazis the right to deny these people this simple pleasure?
If I were elected into high office, I would slash the taxes on cigarettes and tobacco asap. The enjoyment of a cigarette has been turned into a pleasure that only the privileged class can afford! In years gone by, a cigarette could be enjoyed by people in all classes and strata of society – from royalty right down to the coal miner, from the film star right down to the shop assistant.
The anti-smoking zealots go on and on about the carcinogens in cigarettes and tobacco. Yeh, yeh! We know all about it. So many of our products are actually carcinogenic, not just cigarettes. So are we going to ban those products, too? These health fanatics have harped on about the dangers of smoking for so long now, so how could we not know ALL about the dangers? What they are very sly and secretive about, though, is that there can be certain advantages to smoking cigarettes IN MODERATION. For example, smoking may have a protective effect against Parkinson’s disease. (Click here.) It may have a protective effect in Alzheimer’s disease, too. (Click here.) And that it helps ward off obesity is also well-known. In fact, in years gone by, many a lady would take up the smoking habit to stay slim! Being slim, in turn, helps ward off type-2 diabetes.
None of these facts mean that it is necessarily a good idea to smoke cigarettes. That is not what I am saying. But we need to get these things into perspective. Anyone reading a newspaper article on cigarette smoking would probably conclude that all cigarette smokers end up with lung cancer. But this is not the case. About 10% of HEAVY smokers contract lung cancer. Maybe up to 20%. (Click here.)
But it is interesting to note that in Japan, despite very high smoking rates, lung cancer rates are lower! This is known as the Japanese paradox. (Click here for further information.)
There are other health benefits too!
Do I advocate smoking? No! I certainly do not. But I certainly think that smoking a cigarette is preferable to snorting cocaine or being addicted to opioids, or any other substance. As always, the devil is in the dose.
But I am against the war that is being waged on smoking and smokers for political reasons, too. I am anti-Nanny State. I also am convinced that banning smoking in all public places and making all people paranoid about “second-hand smoke” leads to loneliness in society. People these days are afraid of their own shadows! Snowflakes all! – © Mark Alexander
Now Macron wants to get in on the anti-smoking act! But will the French tolerate being bossed around by the state?
New Zealand’s new right-wing government has said it will repeal a law that would have gradually banned all cigarette sales in the country over the course of several decades.
The law, passed by a previous government led by Jacinda Ardern, a prime minister who became an international liberal icon, took effect this year and was celebrated as a potential model that other countries might someday follow. It would have gradually introduced changes in retail cigarette sales and licensing over several years until tobacco could eventually no longer be legally sold in New Zealand.
By Jan. 1, 2027, the law would have made it illegal to sell tobacco products like cigarettes, to anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 2009, according to the government. The law would then have gradually raised the smoking age, year by year, until it covered the entire population.
But last week, the new government said in published agreements between the three coalition partners that it would repeal the law, without explaining why.
The incoming finance minister, Nicola Willis, later told Radio New Zealand that the Ardern government’s plans to restrict sales of tobacco and reduce the amount of nicotine in cigarettes could have led to a “massive black market.” » | Mike Ives and Natasha Frost | Tuesday, November 28, 2023
Even though I am no longer a smoker, this is about the most welcome news I have heard in a long time. Why? Because it may signal the start of a return to common sense in matters related to smoking and the enjoyment of tobacco products. In recent years, one has been able to feel the ever-tightening grip of the health Nazis – they have been choking off all pleasures and enjoyment in life.
For very many people, a smoke is one of life’s daily pleasures. Indeed for some less fortunate people, it can be one of the few pleasures they can look forward to after a hard day’s work. What gives these do-gooding health Nazis the right to deny these people this simple pleasure?
If I were elected into high office, I would slash the taxes on cigarettes and tobacco asap. The enjoyment of a cigarette has been turned into a pleasure that only the privileged class can afford! In years gone by, a cigarette could be enjoyed by people in all classes and strata of society – from royalty right down to the coal miner, from the film star right down to the shop assistant.
The anti-smoking zealots go on and on about the carcinogens in cigarettes and tobacco. Yeh, yeh! We know all about it. So many of our products are actually carcinogenic, not just cigarettes. So are we going to ban those products, too? These health fanatics have harped on about the dangers of smoking for so long now, so how could we not know ALL about the dangers? What they are very sly and secretive about, though, is that there can be certain advantages to smoking cigarettes IN MODERATION. For example, smoking may have a protective effect against Parkinson’s disease. (Click here.) It may have a protective effect in Alzheimer’s disease, too. (Click here.) And that it helps ward off obesity is also well-known. In fact, in years gone by, many a lady would take up the smoking habit to stay slim! Being slim, in turn, helps ward off type-2 diabetes.
None of these facts mean that it is necessarily a good idea to smoke cigarettes. That is not what I am saying. But we need to get these things into perspective. Anyone reading a newspaper article on cigarette smoking would probably conclude that all cigarette smokers end up with lung cancer. But this is not the case. About 10% of HEAVY smokers contract lung cancer. Maybe up to 20%. (Click here.)
But it is interesting to note that in Japan, despite very high smoking rates, lung cancer rates are lower! This is known as the Japanese paradox. (Click here for further information.)
There are other health benefits too!
Do I advocate smoking? No! I certainly do not. But I certainly think that smoking a cigarette is preferable to snorting cocaine or being addicted to opioids, or any other substance. As always, the devil is in the dose.
But I am against the war that is being waged on smoking and smokers for political reasons, too. I am anti-Nanny State. I also am convinced that banning smoking in all public places and making all people paranoid about “second-hand smoke” leads to loneliness in society. People these days are afraid of their own shadows! Snowflakes all! – © Mark Alexander
Now Macron wants to get in on the anti-smoking act! But will the French tolerate being bossed around by the state?
Monday, November 27, 2023
New Zealand Smoking Ban Scrapped by Government in Shock Reversal - BBC News
Nov 27, 2023 | New Zealand's new government says it plans to scrap the nation's world-leading smoking ban to fund tax cuts, a reversal strongly criticised by health experts.
The legislation, introduced under the previous Jacinda Ardern-led government, would have banned cigarette sales next year to anyone born after 2008.
Smoking is the leading cause of preventable deaths in New Zealand, and the policy had aimed to stop young generations from picking up the habit.
Some common sense on smoking from a government at last! This generational smoking ban was both draconian and undemocratic. It was a hare-brained idea from the very start.
I write as an ex-smoker. I gave up smoking successfully in April 2022. But even so, I am implacably opposed to banning cigarette smoking for future generations. This ban is a socialist-style policy. Boy! Don’t socialists like to interfere in people's private lives! Socialists and people like Rishi Sunak! We in the UK need a policy reversal on this stupid ban as well.
There are far worse things for young people to do than enjoy a smoke. Taking drugs, for example. Only last week, I posted a DW documentary on the problems that Germany is facing with cocaine use. (Click here to watch the hair-raising documentary.) Truly, if the worst a person does in this life twixt cradle and grave is enjoy a cigarette and a drink of alcohol, then I would say that he/she is doing pretty well. I really am sick and tired of this obsession with smoking and smokers and I am also sick and tired of the Nanny State poking its nose in people's private lives. Have people forgotten that it is healthy to have some pleasure from life? Who the hell wants to live forever anyway, and end up in an old people's home, ga-ga, and being fed by some nurse? There is such a thing as enjoying the journey of life. More power to the new New Zealand government which has had the courage to swim against the tide and overturn Jacinda Adern's stupid law. – © Mark Alexander
The left-wing press is having convulsions over this ban reversal:
New Zealand scraps world-first smoking ‘generation ban’ to fund tax cuts: Health experts say axing plan to block sales of tobacco products to next generation will cost thousands of lives »
New Zealand smoking ban: Health experts criticise new government's shock reversal: New Zealand's new government says it plans to scrap the nation's world-leading smoking ban to fund tax cuts. »
The legislation, introduced under the previous Jacinda Ardern-led government, would have banned cigarette sales next year to anyone born after 2008.
Smoking is the leading cause of preventable deaths in New Zealand, and the policy had aimed to stop young generations from picking up the habit.
Some common sense on smoking from a government at last! This generational smoking ban was both draconian and undemocratic. It was a hare-brained idea from the very start.
I write as an ex-smoker. I gave up smoking successfully in April 2022. But even so, I am implacably opposed to banning cigarette smoking for future generations. This ban is a socialist-style policy. Boy! Don’t socialists like to interfere in people's private lives! Socialists and people like Rishi Sunak! We in the UK need a policy reversal on this stupid ban as well.
There are far worse things for young people to do than enjoy a smoke. Taking drugs, for example. Only last week, I posted a DW documentary on the problems that Germany is facing with cocaine use. (Click here to watch the hair-raising documentary.) Truly, if the worst a person does in this life twixt cradle and grave is enjoy a cigarette and a drink of alcohol, then I would say that he/she is doing pretty well. I really am sick and tired of this obsession with smoking and smokers and I am also sick and tired of the Nanny State poking its nose in people's private lives. Have people forgotten that it is healthy to have some pleasure from life? Who the hell wants to live forever anyway, and end up in an old people's home, ga-ga, and being fed by some nurse? There is such a thing as enjoying the journey of life. More power to the new New Zealand government which has had the courage to swim against the tide and overturn Jacinda Adern's stupid law. – © Mark Alexander
The left-wing press is having convulsions over this ban reversal:
New Zealand scraps world-first smoking ‘generation ban’ to fund tax cuts: Health experts say axing plan to block sales of tobacco products to next generation will cost thousands of lives »
New Zealand smoking ban: Health experts criticise new government's shock reversal: New Zealand's new government says it plans to scrap the nation's world-leading smoking ban to fund tax cuts. »
Sunday, November 26, 2023
Rishi Sunak Goes It Alone on Smoking as New Zealand Ditches Nanny State Gigarette Ban
YAHOO! SPORT: Rishi Sunak is facing fresh demands to axe his “nanny state” smoking ban after the flagship policy that it followed was torn up by the New Zealand government.
The Prime Minister announced a phased ban on cigarettes last month, with the age of sale rising by one year every year from 2027 onwards under the plans.
But Conservative MPs urged him to change course after New Zealand’s recently elected coalition government tore up the country’s own proposals to prohibit anyone born after 2008 from ever buying tobacco.
Christopher Luxon, the incoming prime minister, confirmed he would abolish legislation passed by Jacinda Ardern, one of his Left-wing predecessors, in December last year, shortly before Ms Ardern’s unexpected departure from politics.
While Downing Street insisted it was “committed” to pressing ahead with the smoking ban – which it now looks set to become the only country in the world to introduce – senior Tory backbenchers called on Mr Sunak to think again.
Seeing common sense
Philip Davies, the MP for Shipley, said: “I commend the New Zealand government for seeing common sense, and I very much hope the UK Government will follow suit. » | Dominic Penna | Friday, November 24, 2023
It is encouraging to see that New Zealand is ditching Jacinda Adern's silly smoking ban for the young. It was a hare-brained idea from the very start. It was also undemocratic and a policy typical of policies a Nanny State would introduce. It is socialist and meddlesome at its very core.
The politically-naïve Rishi Sunak will also have to abandon this stupid policy. It is totally unworkable. Especially in an international world. What, for example, would happen if one of these young people went abroad to work or vacation and took up the smoking habit whilst abroad, then returned to the UK? Does Rishi Sunak have plans to jail such people for enjoying a puff? Or what other plans does he have for them in his health Utopia? Moreover, what will happen if a person marries someone from abroad who already smokes and where smoking is legal for a person of that age? Sunak clearly hasn't properly thought through this ludicrous policy. Further, introducing such a stupid ban will bring with it no end of policing and enforcing difficulties. Stupid is as stupid does. – © Mark Alexander
The Prime Minister announced a phased ban on cigarettes last month, with the age of sale rising by one year every year from 2027 onwards under the plans.
But Conservative MPs urged him to change course after New Zealand’s recently elected coalition government tore up the country’s own proposals to prohibit anyone born after 2008 from ever buying tobacco.
Christopher Luxon, the incoming prime minister, confirmed he would abolish legislation passed by Jacinda Ardern, one of his Left-wing predecessors, in December last year, shortly before Ms Ardern’s unexpected departure from politics.
While Downing Street insisted it was “committed” to pressing ahead with the smoking ban – which it now looks set to become the only country in the world to introduce – senior Tory backbenchers called on Mr Sunak to think again.
Seeing common sense
Philip Davies, the MP for Shipley, said: “I commend the New Zealand government for seeing common sense, and I very much hope the UK Government will follow suit. » | Dominic Penna | Friday, November 24, 2023
It is encouraging to see that New Zealand is ditching Jacinda Adern's silly smoking ban for the young. It was a hare-brained idea from the very start. It was also undemocratic and a policy typical of policies a Nanny State would introduce. It is socialist and meddlesome at its very core.
The politically-naïve Rishi Sunak will also have to abandon this stupid policy. It is totally unworkable. Especially in an international world. What, for example, would happen if one of these young people went abroad to work or vacation and took up the smoking habit whilst abroad, then returned to the UK? Does Rishi Sunak have plans to jail such people for enjoying a puff? Or what other plans does he have for them in his health Utopia? Moreover, what will happen if a person marries someone from abroad who already smokes and where smoking is legal for a person of that age? Sunak clearly hasn't properly thought through this ludicrous policy. Further, introducing such a stupid ban will bring with it no end of policing and enforcing difficulties. Stupid is as stupid does. – © Mark Alexander
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