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 …

Peter Mandelson is actually doing something positive for the country! I know that you’re probably sceptical of this, but it’s true – he is indeed:
Peter Mandelson is at the centre of a Whitehall row over a planned clampdown on cigarette sales which threatens to overshadow this week’s Queen’s Speech.
Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, is said to have legislation which would ban big displays of cigarettes – effectively forcing their sale under the counter – “ready to go” as a key part of the Government’s programme for the next 12 months.
However, …

That is indeed the question…

Fail Blog

This government just keeps on plowing out illiberal shit. Anything to prevent us from being able to make our own decisions and take responsibility for our own actions.
First of all, they want to ban cigarette vending machines and packs of ten. To “prevent children and young people smoking”. They have already raised the cigarette purchasing age to 18 and banned smoking in all public enclosed areas, and just want to keep on with their vendetta against smoking.
Let me make one point clear now: I am not, never have been, and …

They just can’t leave us alone, can they?
Firstly, the Scottish “Government” wants to raise the age at which alcohol can be legally drunk to 21. Why? Because “we all know that Scotland as a nation has a drink problem and the implications of this are very serious – not least for our health.” So because of the potential of some health problems caused by a few youngsters habitually over-drinking, they are considering banning all under-21s from drinking alcohol completely. And what exactly will stop them crossing the border to England …

Bars in the US state Minnesota have found a brilliant way to circumvent a new smoking ban:
The law grants an exception from the ban to performers in theatrical productions. So the bars have become theatres, and their customers, actors.Now some bars print bills listing the “cast” of bartenders, and ashtrays become “props”. Drinkers don costumes and attempt strange accents.“They’re playing themselves before 1 October – you know, before there was a smoking ban… We call the production, Before the Ban!” (BBC)
Absolutely magnificent. Unfortunately, not something that we can emulate over …

Why oh why oh why?
Smokers could be forced to pay £10 for a permit to buy tobacco if a government health advisory body gets its way.No one would be able to buy cigarettes without the permit, under the idea proposed by Health England…He said it was the inconvenience of getting a permit – as much as the cost – that would deter people from persisting with the smoking habit. (BBC)
How can this possibly be justified in any way? It really does seem that smokers are the whipping-boys at the moment. …

Well, at least those from vending machines:
Cigarette vending machines could be banned to stop them being used by child smokers, it emerged yesterday.As many as 50,000 children are feared to use the machines to acquire cigarettes, and there are fears that figure will rise after last month’s raising of the legal age at which tobacco can be bought…The proposed ban is likely to gain widespread support among politicians after the success of the ban on smoking in public places and last month’s raising of the legal age from 16 to …

When the smoking ban was introduced, it was obvious that the next step would be to ban drinking alcohol. It seems that this has already begun. Peter Fahy, the Chief Constable of Cheshire, wants a ban on drinking outdoors, a reversal from the existing situation where it is legal unless otherwise stated – the same way the law works in all areas in England. He wants to make drinking alcohol in public illegal because seeing alcohol being drunk apparently glamorises it for children.
He also proposes that the age of drinking …

Since the smoking ban came into force in England on 1 July, more than a month ago now, smoking has been illegal in all pubs in the UK. But it appears that the ending of smoking in pubs have had at least undesirable, though obviously foreseeable, effect – now pubs stink. With no more tobacco smoke smell to mask that of sweaty bodies, stale beer, etc. pubs are beginning to stink. Despite the claims of pro-ban people that pubs would smell sweeter without tobacco smoke, that was obvious bollocks, and …