BBC London presenter to Labour MP: "What do you want to ban next?"
Monday, March 31, 2014 at 13:08
Simon Clark

I did an interview on Friday evening with the excellent Eddie Nestor on BBC London.

It was at 6.20 and I was standing outside The Castle Inn, Cambridge, where I was having an after work drink with a colleague.

Also on was Tooting MP Sadiq Khan. Sadiq believes government should extend the smoking ban to stop people smoking in more public spaces.

Here are some highlights:

Sadiq: "Legislation changes behaviour."

Me: "You really are patronising!"

Eddie: "What do you want to ban next?"

Sadiq: "If I can discourage my children, and your children, to start smoking that is a good thing."

That says it all, really.

Of course I'd prefer my children not to smoke (until they're 18 and can decide for themselves) but it's none of Sadiq's business whether they do or not.

Focus on your own children, Sadiq, but leave mine alone.

What next? Perhaps you'd like to discourage my teenage children from drinking alcohol or eating junk food as well.

Or perhaps you'd like them taken into care as soon as they're born and their entire childhood can be supervised by the state according to some official rulebook.

Is that what you want?

Click here to listen. The discussion starts at 01:15:00.

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