The latest suggestion to arrive on the doorstep of Government is this,A ban on the sale of cigarettes to anyone who does not pay for a government smoking permit has been proposed by Health England, a ministerial advisory board.A brilliant idea dreamt up by health bureacrats for the delectation of the people.
Oh I can see it now, all that lovely paperwork, and with photo ID as well. Now we must of course streamline the system. So lets have all the paperwork and photo IDs uploaded onto a national smokers database. This of course can be cross referenced to tha nice idea the government just had about the Children's database (with exam results that will never be deleted as it is designed to act as a Government approved national CV); which dovetails with the Children's Index (which due to security reasons will not carry the details of the children of celebrities and politicians, but will have all sorts of social information about parenting and propensity to commit crime - and whether you eat your greens). Then add the fingerprints that have been taken from all our children in schools. Tie that to Franco Frattini's idea of only the day before yesterday to have a complete satelitte tracking system that will track all visitors to the EU...The permit might cost as little as £10, but acquiring it could be made difficult if the forms were sufficiently complex, Le Grand said last night.
His paper says: "Suppose every individual who wanted to buy tobacco had to purchase a permit. And suppose further they had to do this every year. To get a permit would involve filling out a form and supplying a photograph, as well as paying the fee. Permits would only be issued to those over 18 and evidence of age would have to be provided."
I love this though,
Le Grand said the proposal was an example of "libertarian paternalism". The government would leave people free to make their own decisions but it would "nudge them" in the right direction....Oh sod it, could somebody just design a badge for me that I will wear at all times on my top garment. I am prepared to have a tatoo as well, just to get it over with.
3 comments:
This doesn't begin to address the issue. Every purchase should be recorded on line to ensure people are only buying enough for their personal consumption. If they bought too many, specially trained local authority officials could lie in wait for them and seize their permits, with right of entry to their homes. They would then have to undergo health education classes.
To capture bootlegging, this should be an EU wide initiative, with the database maintained in Romania.
Ah but it has already started.
I covered this a while back here
http://englandexpects.blogspot.com/2007/03/id-cards-will-only-be-used-to-protect.html
In Germany you need to have your ID card scanned before you can buy cigarettes
Mind you, at least it means they won't be harvesting my lungs, presumed consent be damned.
Post a Comment