Smokers of the world unite!
Monday, September 25, 2023 at 13:14 Further to the report that appeared on the Guardian website on Friday evening and in the print edition on Saturday ...
Forest's response to 'Rishi Sunak considers banning cigarettes for next generation' was reported by The Sun, Mirror, Independent, i, and Financial Times.
We were also quoted by the Press Association and that led to our comments appearing in numerous online reports including the London Evening Standard, City AM, Daily Record, The National, The Herald, STV News, ITV News, Birmingham Mail, Plymouth Herald, Coventry Telegraph, Hull Daily Mail and many more.
On Saturday I was on LBC (with Hazel Cheeseman of ASH) but more interesting was the decision by the BBC to interview two leading anti-smoking campaigners – Cheeseman and Prof Robert West – on the PM programme with not a single opposing voice.
In fact, the only difference between Cheeseman and West was that ASH's deputy CEO supported raising the age of sale of tobacco from 18 to 21 (the American model) while West supported the New Zealand model, raising the age of sale by one year every year until no-one can legally buy tobacco.
Apart from that, they were in complete agreement. Well done, the BBC!
Elsewhere, a couple of comments stood out.
Interviewed by Trevor Phillips on Sky News, America author and journalist Lionel Shriver responded to reports that the prime minister wants to stop young adults smoking by describing Britain as a "heavy-handed nanny state". The UK, she said, is "increasingly authoritarian".
Meanwhile, on social media, Winston Marshall, the former member of Mumford & Sons, tweeted:
There's a proud 450 year British tradition of tobacco including cigars, pipes, cigarettes and we are world leaders in snuff.
Tobacco duties raise £10b/year
There are countless small British businesses in tobacco
Tobacco is a refined pleasure that every Brit should have the right to enjoy
Banning it will only create a black market, destroy a legitimate industry, kill 0.4% of national income
And we will smoke anyway
Smokers of the world unite!
Hands off @RishiSunak
Anyway, we'll be discussing all this in exactly seven days at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester when Forest is hosting a panel in the IEA/TPA Think Tent.
Title: Smoking Gun – The infantilisation of Britain.
Summary: The Conservative government says it’s committed to making England ‘smoke free’ by 2030. We are also told that tackling smoking (and vaping) will be a priority for the next Labour government. Is the ongoing war on tobacco justified, or is this a classic case of government overreach, with adults being treated like ignorant and unruly children?
How topical is that?!
I'm chairing and our speakers are Reem Ibrahim, communications officer at the IEA (who also discussed the issue on LBC and Five Live at the weekend); Mark Oates, director of We Vape; and Chris Snowdon, head of lifestyle economics at the IEA.
Looking forward to it!
Reader Comments (1)
The BBC clearly has contempt for smokers and think they are too thick to think for themselves - hence they refuse to engage with the smoker or their representatives. The BBC would rather force down our throat the views of those who would support all bullying tactics to force people to quit smoking because their superiority complex means they think everyone should quit and that only that view should be legal or acceptable.
It would be great if smokers of the world would unite but there is little chance of that. Some are so shamed and stigmatised they barely dare lift their head to object, especially these days when having an opinion that goes against the powerful healthist woke mob can lead to job losses, and destruction of reputations.
Lionel Shriver is right. We have been saying it for decades. The UK hurtled onto the path of authoritarianism when it told private property owners who they could invite into their pubs, clubs and restaurants and who they could not. Legalising intolerance with smoking bans was the first step to authoritarian misery and the real slippery slope taking us to a race to the bottom.
Authoritarianism leads to more bans which then lead to yet more loss of individual freedoms. We are now only free to do as we are told Comrade.