Blog Tracker
06-10-2023, 11:32
Visit The Pub Curmudgeon site (https://pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2023/10/creeping-prohibition.html)
A problem with writing a blog of this kind is that it can become a little tedious having to go over the same arguments again and again. There are only so many times you can explain why minimum alcohol pricing is a seriously counter-productive policy, or why cask ale premiumisation really isn’t going to fly.
Something of the same applies to the issue of progressively raising the minimum purchase age for tobacco, something I wrote about back in 2021 (https://pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/baby-steps-to-prohibition.html) in relation to New Zealand, and again earlier this year (https://pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2023/02/speaking-with-forked-tongue.html) referring to the British Labour Party. Now, not entirely surprisingly, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced that this is going to be applied in the UK (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-12596357/Smoking-plan-biggest-public-health-intervention-generation--says-Sunak.html).
It is an appalling, grossly illiberal policy that reduces responsible adults to the status of naughty children. Christopher Snowdon has already set out the case against it (https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-many-flaws-in-sunaks-smoking-wheeze/) very clearly.
It would, over time, turn the entire tobacco industry over to the black market, and deprive the government of the associated tax revenue. Smoking has already been banned in all indoor public spaces, so the opportunities for younger smokers to stand out and feel stigmatised are now very limited. It’s already difficult to go far in cities and large towns without encountering the smell of cannabis, and that’s illegal for all age groups. Tobacco will be just the same. As I understand it, there’s no intention to ban possession or consumption, merely the legal sale.
It’s already difficult enough for shopkeepers to enforce the minimum purchase age of 18 for alcohol and tobacco, and this will be multiplied if the tobacco age rises every year. People in their 30s and 40s are going to need identity cards to prove their age. And a 36-year-old isn’t going to have any qualms about buying tobacco for their 35-year-old friend.
Of course smoking carries significant health risks, but that applies to plenty of other things do for pleasure, most of which are tolerated or even celebrated. And there is a total failure to appreciate that many smokers actually enjoy the habit and have no desire to quit. The government are looking to prohibit a leisure activity that gives people pleasure and, providing it is done in private, harms nobody else.
Smokers now represent only about 10% of the adult population, and come disproportionately from the more marginalised in society. It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that there is a distinct whiff of “othering” in this policy, in finding minorities to persecute and ostracise. Most prejudices against minorities are now rightly frowned on, but this one goes from strength to strength.
Unsurprisingly, every lobby group wanting increased lifestyle restrictions is jumping on the bandwagon and saying that this sets a precedent for their particularly bansturbatory hobby-horse.
The PM has announced a tobacco ban - but is skeptical about tackling the food industry. Why?
We need the same bold public health approach with respect to food - tighter regulations, and ensuring healthy unprocessed food is accessible to all
🔊 from 1h30https://t.co/sfM89fZpQD
— Soil Association (@SoilAssociation) October 5, 2023 (https://twitter.com/SoilAssociation/status/1709899816132645147?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) And if you think it will never be used as a precedent to justify greater alcohol regulation, then I have a bridge to sell you.
This has not yet become law, and is unlikely to do so before the impending General Election. During that time, many articulate voices will be raised against it. Former Prime Minister Liz Truss has already stated she would vote against it. This, from Ian Dunt (https://inews.co.uk/opinion/rishi-sunak-smoking-ban-dangerous-policy-2661747), is an example of an opposing view from the political Left. Don’t expect Labour to do anything to challenge it, though – they will do their usual nodding dog act when confronted with any authoritarian measure.
And, if it does come to pass, I will be able to sit back and just watch the inevitable and widely predicted policy disaster unfold. They haven’t banned Schadenfreude. Yet...
More... (https://pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2023/10/creeping-prohibition.html)
A problem with writing a blog of this kind is that it can become a little tedious having to go over the same arguments again and again. There are only so many times you can explain why minimum alcohol pricing is a seriously counter-productive policy, or why cask ale premiumisation really isn’t going to fly.
Something of the same applies to the issue of progressively raising the minimum purchase age for tobacco, something I wrote about back in 2021 (https://pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/baby-steps-to-prohibition.html) in relation to New Zealand, and again earlier this year (https://pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2023/02/speaking-with-forked-tongue.html) referring to the British Labour Party. Now, not entirely surprisingly, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced that this is going to be applied in the UK (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-12596357/Smoking-plan-biggest-public-health-intervention-generation--says-Sunak.html).
It is an appalling, grossly illiberal policy that reduces responsible adults to the status of naughty children. Christopher Snowdon has already set out the case against it (https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-many-flaws-in-sunaks-smoking-wheeze/) very clearly.
It would, over time, turn the entire tobacco industry over to the black market, and deprive the government of the associated tax revenue. Smoking has already been banned in all indoor public spaces, so the opportunities for younger smokers to stand out and feel stigmatised are now very limited. It’s already difficult to go far in cities and large towns without encountering the smell of cannabis, and that’s illegal for all age groups. Tobacco will be just the same. As I understand it, there’s no intention to ban possession or consumption, merely the legal sale.
It’s already difficult enough for shopkeepers to enforce the minimum purchase age of 18 for alcohol and tobacco, and this will be multiplied if the tobacco age rises every year. People in their 30s and 40s are going to need identity cards to prove their age. And a 36-year-old isn’t going to have any qualms about buying tobacco for their 35-year-old friend.
Of course smoking carries significant health risks, but that applies to plenty of other things do for pleasure, most of which are tolerated or even celebrated. And there is a total failure to appreciate that many smokers actually enjoy the habit and have no desire to quit. The government are looking to prohibit a leisure activity that gives people pleasure and, providing it is done in private, harms nobody else.
Smokers now represent only about 10% of the adult population, and come disproportionately from the more marginalised in society. It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that there is a distinct whiff of “othering” in this policy, in finding minorities to persecute and ostracise. Most prejudices against minorities are now rightly frowned on, but this one goes from strength to strength.
Unsurprisingly, every lobby group wanting increased lifestyle restrictions is jumping on the bandwagon and saying that this sets a precedent for their particularly bansturbatory hobby-horse.
The PM has announced a tobacco ban - but is skeptical about tackling the food industry. Why?
We need the same bold public health approach with respect to food - tighter regulations, and ensuring healthy unprocessed food is accessible to all
🔊 from 1h30https://t.co/sfM89fZpQD
— Soil Association (@SoilAssociation) October 5, 2023 (https://twitter.com/SoilAssociation/status/1709899816132645147?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) And if you think it will never be used as a precedent to justify greater alcohol regulation, then I have a bridge to sell you.
This has not yet become law, and is unlikely to do so before the impending General Election. During that time, many articulate voices will be raised against it. Former Prime Minister Liz Truss has already stated she would vote against it. This, from Ian Dunt (https://inews.co.uk/opinion/rishi-sunak-smoking-ban-dangerous-policy-2661747), is an example of an opposing view from the political Left. Don’t expect Labour to do anything to challenge it, though – they will do their usual nodding dog act when confronted with any authoritarian measure.
And, if it does come to pass, I will be able to sit back and just watch the inevitable and widely predicted policy disaster unfold. They haven’t banned Schadenfreude. Yet...
More... (https://pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2023/10/creeping-prohibition.html)