Now here is a question for big willy wragg...
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Mr. White
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That really depends on how much influence and authority you think a government should have. For me, a smaller government is best; just governing the essentials such as defence, law and order, education, healthcare, welfare etc...
Rishi Sunak deciding what we can and can't consume is over-reach. We all know that smoking is bad for you, but it should be a matter of personal responsibility.
There is the law of unintended consequences. The sugar tax, for example. Sugar has been replaced, on mass, by artificial, chemical crap. It was to combat obesity. Five years later, has obesity come down? No.
A smoking ban won't work. Cigarettes will be imported and sold on the black market.
michelle mone likes the idea of importing anything for significant profit.
also, sugared drinks are still available, they just cost more. and sugar isn't addictive like nicotine is so fail there chief.
Say, with school fields sold off, and councils bankrupted somehow meaning sports centers closed, perhaps obesity has other aspects to consider... turnip pizza anyone?
Bell!
also, sugared drinks are still available, they just cost more. and sugar isn't addictive like nicotine is so fail there chief.
Say, with school fields sold off, and councils bankrupted somehow meaning sports centers closed, perhaps obesity has other aspects to consider... turnip pizza anyone?
Bell!
This smoking “ban” is a bit of a weird one. At present the legal age in the UK to smoke is 16 (well technically you can legally smoke from any age in the UK, but the police can confiscate tobacco products from under 16’s in public), and to buy them is 18. From what I’m reading, they’re proposing to just raise the legal age of buying them year on year, not the legal age to actually smoke?
My lads are currently 16 and 14 years old. This means that when my eldest turns 18, he’ll be legally allowed to buy cigarettes, as he was born before 2009, but when my youngest does two years later, he won’t.
So in theory, if my youngest does decide to become a smoker (which I bloody hope he doesn’t!), in 30 years time, whenever my (then 44 year old) youngest wants a packet of smokes, he’d have to get someone like his 46 year old brother to buy them for him
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My lads are currently 16 and 14 years old. This means that when my eldest turns 18, he’ll be legally allowed to buy cigarettes, as he was born before 2009, but when my youngest does two years later, he won’t.
So in theory, if my youngest does decide to become a smoker (which I bloody hope he doesn’t!), in 30 years time, whenever my (then 44 year old) youngest wants a packet of smokes, he’d have to get someone like his 46 year old brother to buy them for him
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What happens in years to come when eventually no one is legally old enough to buy tobacco…..it’ll leave a big hole in government taxes and also, you’ll have the farcical situation of middle aged adults bringing tobacco back from abroad which they have legally purchased and having them confiscated at customs for not being old enough to have them.
I don’t think that this is something that any Government in a so called free country should be interfering in. As another poster has already said, the Government are here to control the basics, such as defence, public spending and basic law and order. I’m not denying that smoking is harmful, but tobacco is a legal product and it should be a free choice as to whether or not you decide to consume it or not. You could argue that alcohol is dangerous as well, but they wouldn’t dare gradually stop people from being able to legally purchase it by raising the age to purchase it in the same way as they’re proposing to do with tobacco.
I’d be against such Government overreach whichever party was in power, but the fact that Sunak of all people is proposing this, after breaking the lockdown laws just makes it even worse.
I don’t think that this is something that any Government in a so called free country should be interfering in. As another poster has already said, the Government are here to control the basics, such as defence, public spending and basic law and order. I’m not denying that smoking is harmful, but tobacco is a legal product and it should be a free choice as to whether or not you decide to consume it or not. You could argue that alcohol is dangerous as well, but they wouldn’t dare gradually stop people from being able to legally purchase it by raising the age to purchase it in the same way as they’re proposing to do with tobacco.
I’d be against such Government overreach whichever party was in power, but the fact that Sunak of all people is proposing this, after breaking the lockdown laws just makes it even worse.
Regarding your point of middle aged men having smokes confiscated at Customs, that wouldn’t happen as the legal age to smoke, or be in possession of smokes in the UK, isn’t changing. You can currently legally smoke in the UK from any age (though police can confiscate tobacco products from under 16’s when in public). None of this is changing. It is just the legal age to buy tobacco products IN THE UK is changing.
Is there any calculation that shows an overall net profit for nations in terms of texes raised as opposed to health costs etc.
You could also consider tobacco companies as criminal enterprises historically anyway with their government lobbying and campaigns against health experts etc.
Personally I feel the balance is about right with a ban on advertising and public/working areas, though I would be interested to read the research on the benefits for or against a further ban.
weren't cocaine and heroin legal products not so long ago?
The 2007 ban on indoor smoking in public places has been an incredible success. 24% smoked at the time of the ban, by 2019 that had fallen to just under 14%.
It's a rancid habit, it's ludicrously addictive, harder to stop for good than heroin and is more damaging to the body, and robs people of years, causing them a slow and painful death in many, many cases.
It causes fires, and it causes mad amounts of litter.
I will be thrilled if this legislation passes. Smoking needs consigning to the dustbin of history.
It's a rancid habit, it's ludicrously addictive, harder to stop for good than heroin and is more damaging to the body, and robs people of years, causing them a slow and painful death in many, many cases.
It causes fires, and it causes mad amounts of litter.
I will be thrilled if this legislation passes. Smoking needs consigning to the dustbin of history.
Who is it with the shares in BAT for instance (british american tobacco) ?
Could this never ending source of incredible wealth (and harm) be a factor in the kickback to these proposals?
Could this never ending source of incredible wealth (and harm) be a factor in the kickback to these proposals?
I'll never see it, but I can picture a day in the 2110s or 2120s where a line forms around the block of some nursing home as thousands of randoms queue to take the last Briton old enough to buy a pack for a quick outing down to the local cornershop.
Hinchcliffe's Corner
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I was working for a railway company when the ban came in, I remember that there was initial pushback for people believing they could smoke on open platforms. But never outright resistance or hostility.
It felt like most smokers were broadly on board with the legislation.
Czech legislation is less definitive and has some loopholes. But, speaking from personal observation any legislation targeting smoking in youngsters needs to target vaping as a priority.
Kids vape here, very few smoke.
Vaping at least seems more benign than smoking, and worked as a way of quitting for me, as I was on the now old school vapes, buying nic-free juice and adding the level of nic I wanted. Was easy to taper down and quit.
These disposable vapes need yeeting ASAP. Its them that's caused an explosion in kids vaping, they're an environmental disaster, and they deliver a huge dose of nicotine which you can't adjust. They are wicked, wicked things, harder to quit than fags, and should never have been allowed on to the market in the first place.
The smoking carriage on trains was always pure carnage.
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