Who could that be do you think?
The answer is the 20% of those who smoke.
It amazes me that with a general election coming up, politicians of all colours are rushing through a bill on plain packaging of tobacco products.
It basically boils down to that they have to be seen to be doing something emotive that will catch the public eye, whilst distracting from most of the obvious failures of the main parties. It’s an easy distraction as the majority of the population have been so brainwashed that politicians feel that this will burnish their halos.
What they don’t seem to realise is the majority of non smokers won’t give a toss as the law won’t affect them in the slightest. It’s only the nu-puritan ANTI-smokers who will trumpet this nasty little bill.
There is an excellent article by Dominic Lawson in the Daily Mail today that explains how the war on smokers is wrong.
What I’m trying to say here is that if one of the major parties were to at least support smokers in a small way (Wink Wink: UKIP), then they might find that their voting share might rise considerably.
Polling suggests that the party's core voters already correlate closely to those who smoke, meaning new pickings are unlikely.
ReplyDeleteMore to the point, the Tories are most unlikely to run with plain packaging as a red-line policy. At worst, there will be no Tory whip -ie a free vote - which will kill it off. Besides, there's a reason why no other government has followed the Australian lead.
I am a smoker.
UKIP made a conscious decision to go after the smoker vote as far back as early 2009. Their vote share has been on an upward curve ever since, it's like just sitting by a river with a net and watching your rivals throw fish in it.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a smoker and never have been, but that doesn't mean i don't feel exactly as the smokers do.
ReplyDeleteGovts and do-bloody-gooders, just sod off already and leave people alone.
I'm sure lots of normal people, with their many faults and foibles, are going to vote UKIP.
A, because UKIP's leaders appear to be human and amazingly they ain't perfect either, well thank the good Lord for that.
B, because they don't tell people how to live their lives right down to how they should think.
Regards
Judd
Always get the butt end of everything, do smokers.
ReplyDeleteIt's just mirrors from now on then. That might make it easier to see what they're up to.
ReplyDelete