I actually came across this on the Mail, but the BBC interpretation is a little bit more accurate and fair handed.
It turns out, that a health think tank is suggesting that in order to smoke you would need a permit. Not only would this cost you in money, but you would have to fill out a deliberately complex form, obtain a suitable passport photo, and have to renew this permit yearly. An addition that seems to make this group positively orgiastic is the additional idea that you would have to go to your doctor in order to prove that you are still healthy enough in their opinion to smoke.
Surprisingly for this open, egalitarian, social justice and personal empowerment preaching quango of a government, they seem rather keen on the idea, and you have to wonder whether they really are as clever as they should be with all those degrees and life experience.
Smokers smoke, yes many would like to give it up, but this is something they need to come to terms with themselves, possibly via willpower and nicotine substitutes, or maybe checking into rehab. This will not stop people smoking, it will stress people out and make them miserable but they will either trundle through the form, or they will buy cigarettes from France instead.
It all comes down to how you view your fellow human beings. Do you see them as dumb animals who need carrot and stick style policies to be controlled into doing the right thing? or do you see incredibly complex and capable individuals with stresses and influences you might not see or understand? This government treats us like dumb animals, and we assume they are complex individuals.
All people in Britain deserve respect, even if they smoke, this government seems to fail to see this.
Comments
Annoymous
Mon, 25 Feb. 2008 19:38 CST
My view - people should only smoke if they have private health insurance. As a normal BMI non smoker, non drug user, non binge drinker I strongly object to picking up the bill for those who choose to abuse their bodies. There are better things to spend the money on - cancer treatments that cost £20,000 a dose for instance. Of course if you reduce smoking, obesity and binge drinking you also reduce cancer anyway so the NHS wins both ways.
If you have a national health service you have an implied social responsibility to look after your body. In a way you could even say that by subscribing to a government funded halth service you are giving the government certain rights to your health status so they are perfectly within their rights to ensure your health by any means they can.
If you want to ruin your body opt out - get private health insurance then it's not the governments business. The extra you then pay covers your social obligations to others although they are still perfectly within their rights to refuse to go anywhere near your smoke.
GCL
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