Got a permit for that light guv?
08:32, 16 Feb 2008
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.
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