Take It As Red

Tis the season to be jolly and stuff ourselves with all kinds of carcinogenic substances, so Via TalkLeft comes this story: let's hope John Reid hasn't seen it. As a smoker I'm firmly in favour of the right to smoke if you want to, provided there are sufficient safeguards for children and it's not promoted as healthy, sexy or any of those other qualities used to market addictive substances. It's my body, damned. In any case, it's us smokers who are substantially funding the costs of the NHS with our taxes: a pack of cigarettes in the UK now costs 4.75 pounds sterling, or around 7 euros, or more or less 10 dollars. The majority of this cost is tax.



In related news, big restrictions on advertising cigarettes and tobacco come in today:

Tobacco companies in the U.K. must restrict their advertisements to the size of a paperback book after new regulations came into force today.

Companies that make cigarettes and other tobacco products are only allowed to advertise in stores, pubs and clubs, and from today those ads must be A5 size or smaller, the Department of Health said in an e-mailed statement. Thirty percent of the space must be used for a health warning.

``These new regulations will mean that people will no longer be bombarded by the large, colorful tobacco advertising at their local supermarket or corner shop,'' Health Secretary John Reid said in the statement.

Don't worry too much though: it's still fine to sell alcopops and run Happy Hours all night and serve 13 year olds so much booze that they fight, stab each other and pass out in city centres at weekends with monotonous regularity. 24 hour pub opening is official New Labour policy after all, so it must be OK.

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