D-day for new anti-tobacco legislation
Monday, October 12, 2009 I have just done my first interview of the day on the subject of the proposed tobacco display ban which will be voted on today in the House of Commons (see HERE).
I made a number of points including the fact that politicians and campaigners in Scotland have openly admitted that there is no evidence that putting tobacco "out of sight" has any impact on youth smoking rates. It is being done for no other reason than politicians on both sides of the border want to be seen as "pioneers".
I also made the more personal point that it is incredibly patronising to suggest that people are so easily manipulated that they will buy cigarettes simply because they see a cfolourful packet behind the counter.
I was a teenager in the Seventies. For most of my life I have been exposed to tobacco advertising or sponsorship. Hardly a day passes when I do not go into a shop to buy milk, newspapers or groceries and not once have I been tempted to buy cigarettes because I have seen them on display behind the counter.
This legislation, I added, has one purpose and one purpose only. It is part of the denormalisation of smoking (and smokers), a process that should alarm non-smokers, especially those who drink alcohol, because they will be next.
Already campaigners want separate checkouts for alcohol in shops. How soon before alcohol too is forced "out of sight". But out of mind? Who are they kidding?
This morning, in the House of Commons, the Government has arranged a special meeting to brief MPs on why they should vote for the display ban. To organise a meeting like this at this late stage is almost unheard of and it shows how rattled the Government is by the counter arguments (put forward by retailers and others), which include the negative impact the legislation will have on small businesses.
[Note: this briefing meeting has been called by Gillian Merron, MP for Lincoln and minister of state in the Department of Health. Retailers and other opponents of a display ban were NOT invited to attend. As a result, Conservative MP Philip Davies - a guest at the Forest party in Manchester last week - is hosting an alternative briefing today when representatives of the National Federation of Retail Newsagents will have their say. I'll let you know how many MPs bother to go.]
For political reasons the Government will probably win the vote quite comfortably. (Labour MPs are not in the mood to rock the boat in this pre-Election period.) Whatever the result, smokers must continue to let MPs and prospective parliamentary candidates know what they think about a display ban.
If David Cameron is true to his word about reducing the role of Big Government in people's lives, his party must make it clear that under a Conservative regime this patronising, anti-competitive legislation will never be implemented.
Simon Clark
Government faces backbench rebellion over cigarette display ban in shops (Guardian, 11 October). See my comment above. I would like to believe that a significant number of Labour MPs will rebel but I would be surprised if this happens. To my mind it's just as important that the Conservatives demonstrate their opposition to the ban because this will indicate the direction the country will go under a Tory government.
Simon Clark
Philip Morris to fight ... cigarette display ban. This story appeared last week but I was at the Conservative party conference and I forgot to mention it. A legal challenge would be an interesting development.
Reader Comments (17)
On air as I write this is an interview on R4 about this.
A legal challenge would be good and no doubt Phillip Morris have the funds to make this challenge.
However, it seems that whatever this sadistic government wants, it gets, so I also have no doubt that there will be much pressure from government on the judiciary!
It is not just Phillip Morris but also a retailer who is bringing the action.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/05/ireland-smoking-law-philip-morris
This could prove to be a very important case but will cost a fortune for the government to defend. This morally and financially corrupt government needs to be taught a lesson and about time someone stood up to them.
The Guardian, June 31st 2012
The Irresistible Rise of Deborah Arnott
(By Jacyntha Dymme – Health Affairs Editor)
Speaking from her penthouse suite in Mendacity Mansions, South Kensington, yesterday, the newly-ennobled Lady Arnott of Mordor described herself as ‘cock-a-hoop’ at recent developments in the long-running saga of tobacco control.
Sipping a glass of her delicious Non-Alcoholic Cockroach Wine, I spoke to her about her remarkable life.
“It’s been a hard road,” she admitted, “but for me, at any rate, an immensely profitable one.”
It’s certainly been a hectic year for ‘Boss Debs’, as she is affectionately known, even by ardent smokers.
First, her election as Honorary Visiting Fellow to the Society Of Creative Statisticians in January.
Then the unexpected success of her novella, “Silver Bullets – A Vampire in the 21st Century”, the semi-autobiographical account of ‘one woman’s rise to power’, which prompted her description by Radio 4’s Jenni Murray as ‘probably the greatest woman ever to have lived.’
And lastly, her decision to join David Cameron’s Conservatives back in the Spring - hailed by the Prime Minister as ‘a real coup for the Party, a real blessing for the Nation’ :
“Debs – as I MUST stop calling her now – has been a consistently good friend to The Public Good", he said. "Her warmth, humour, common sense and moderation have all proved invaluable in the fight for a Healthy Life For All. Her decision to join us is gob-smackingly brilliant. Andrew (Lansley) practically wet himself with excitement.”
He went on:
"Clearly, The Healthy Option is no longer an 'option'. It is a right and a duty that affects us all – our children especially."
He strongly denied claims, however, that her appointment in the Lords as Chief Government Spokesperson on Health, Climate Change and Society was an attempt to ‘bring a little glamour’ to the Upper Chamber: “We’re not that sort of party any more,” he said: “If I was worried about glamour, I would hardly have appointed Chloe Smith as Health Minister, would I ?”
When asked whether the introduction of the hugely successful ‘Shop A Smoking Parent’ campaign in primary schools was her idea, Lady Arnott modestly confessed that she ‘might have had something to do with it’.
Emphasising her position as someone who is ‘not Anti-Smoker, merely Anti-Smoking’, she referred to her introduction of the Tobacco Control (Even More Restrictions) Bill this week as ‘just tying up a few loose ends.’
Following the recent popular decision to ban smoking outdoors entirely, and in all private residences containing pets, potted plants, uncooked meat, children, and the elderly, the Government is proposing to extend the measure to “all domestic residences where people are likely to be.” Coal mines, garden sheds, and submarines will probably be excluded for now, however.
“We’ve always favoured the step-by-step approach, following thorough consultation with all parties concerned,” she said: “We’re not dictators.”
When asked to respond to a claim by FOREST – the pro-Cancer pressure group - that such further measures were likely to be seen as ‘somewhat draconian’ in certain quarters, Lady Arnott curtly replied: “ They just like killing people. They’re all barking mad ! What IS their problem ?”
On the so-called ‘Freedom of Choice’ issue, she was even more adamant:
“Look, the problem with all this ‘choice’ nonsense is that people invariably make the WRONG one. I see it as our job – our ‘mission’ if you will – to ensure that that can NEVER happen again.”
The acceleration in the number of pub closures (around 120 every week), especially in the countryside, also fails to impress her:
“Pubs are the relic of a by-gone age – like the Black Death, judicial torture, and serfdom. I simply don’t see their necessity in the age of the Internet. And there are OTHER things in life, you know !”
And, following the even more mind-blowingly popular Tobacco Display Ban, Lady Arnott and her team have focussed on the problem of smoking references in Literature:
“In many respects, you could call me ‘Orwellian’. You see, it’s not just enough to stamp out the sin – in this case, smoking. No, you also have to eradicate even the IDEA of sin. All our measures have been toward this end. The Tobacco Display Ban was greeted with wild enthusiasm by the public, as you know. And I expect the same response to the compulsory eradication of all tobacco-related words in books."
When, however, I asked her whether it wouldn’t be better simply to ban tobacco outright, she said that she felt that this would be ‘a step too far’:
“We have no such plans at present”, she stated - adding with that familiar, knowing smile:
“This is a free country, after all..........”
A merry echo of the great Peter Simple, Martin!
Yet another brilliant post Martin V - what is your blog URL so I can have a daily read?
Letter published in the Holyrood Magazine today.
http://www.holyrood.com/index.php?option=com_holyrood&func=article&artid=2935
Pssst !
Looking for cheap fags chief,know wa'ti'mean ?
Actually now we are in the EU and practically "RAT",ified ,does that mean we will pay only EU duty on ciggies.
Martin V your posts just get better and better. Absolutely brilliant.
Nice one Eddie D
When the SBE began in 2007, I remember thinking, why didn't they just say 'we don't like smoking, it smells, and we don't like stupid people who smoke (excluding friends and colleagues) so we are going to make it as difficult for you as we can. I would have been very upset and angry, but not half as much as I am when they pretend it is democratic, has overwhelming public support and worst of all play the 'public consultation' game.
Smoking Ban Experiment. An experiment where instead of it being AIM/METHOD/CONCLUSION, it is AIM/CONCLUSION/METHOD.
Obviously they are using the very same methods with whatever new anti smoking legislation they come up with.
"...this briefing meeting has been called by Gillian Merron..."
I am awfully sorry to ask this question, but why are these kind of meetings always the work of a woman?
Taxi!!!
There are certain shops where you can buy cartons of fags for 40euro.
If the govt stupid 'stunts' dont cop themselves on and do the job they're overpaid to do and start managing the economy before we're all up shit creek, shebeens will start popping up, though not in plain sight like the shops selling underpriced fags, but more prolific than they already are.
So, it looks like it is going to happen then?
The House of Lords will now consider whether there should be an outright ban on cigarette vending machines, after an amendment to the Health Bill by Labour's Ian McCartney was passed by the Commons on Monday night.
Good old Labour, who the vast majority on here, are willing to let slip back into power again, have voted to bar the display of cigarettes in shops, despite strong opposition to the Government's proposals from the Tories.
The Tories expressed concern over proposals for a ban on the display of cigarettes, particularly during the recession when shops could suffer from a lack of business.
Surely this is not the same Tories that seem to be the major enemy of the smoking community on here? Never mind, let's just close our eyes and pretend it didn't happen, like when you was a child and you hide your head under the bedclothes, in the hope that if you cannot see the monster, it will disappear.
If we all keep our eyes tightly closed and wish and wish, you never know, good ol' Ukip-man might appear, and save the day?
That word "IF", it's the biggest little word in the world isn't it.
Lincoln, sadly, has had to put up with St Gillian of Merron pontificating on all sorts of lifetyle habits.
I can't wait for the election. I talk to people here while she stitches 'em up with her mates in Parliament.
We will not forget what she has done. She will lose her seat and she deserves to.
I don't believe the sight of a pack of cigarettes will induce wanting to buy them. But a lot of people are easily led I call them sheeple.
Anyway if it would work then alcohol should be next after all I never seen someone beat his wife, assault someone or be unable to drive because they lit up a cigartette.
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