It seems that Mandy has failed. He and his department had been fighting our corner, but appear to have either given in or been overruled. All they appear to have achieved is a slight reprise.

From October 2011 large shops will have had to remove all tobacco displays from the point of sale and smaller businesses will have to comply by 2013. (Telegraph)

It is disgusting that Labour are planning to make it illegal for shops to display some of their legal produce – in this case cigarettes. They shouldn’t have to be sold from under the counter. It is legal to buy and sell tobacco, so it should be legal to display.

Smoking has already become the victim of Labour’s control-freakery several times before, with the banning of smoking in public areas and the increase in the legal age from 16 to 18. It really does appear to be Labour’s whipping-boy.

Why are they so keen on restricting what we can do, and do preventing us from doing what we wish with our own bodies? Our own health is our own concern, not theirs. I find this intrusion into our lives frightening and disturbing.

That it is delayed is just weird. What happens in 2011 must be the decision of the government then, which will definitely be after the next election. So why are they setting out legislation with such a long time before it comes into force, especially when it isn’t a cross-party consensus. My guess is that they want such a sense of inevitability to set in that cigarettes are taken under the counter before they have to be.