Brett Ellis on the newly approved tobacco and vapes bill

With the advent of social media and tech, our voices have been lost and with it ‘control’.

No doubt we all experience it to some degree, with many of us being the guilty party, as we attempt to shout and have our say as we stifle dissent and attempt to be heard and ultimately, have a choice.

This ‘choice’ has been identified and addressed in certain quarters over time.

Women now have the choice to decide if they wish to have an abortion. We have the choice as to which foods to buy, thanks to capitalism. We can, within reason, travel where we want, and do what we want, within the law, and often we can do what we like outside the law as the criminal justice system is beaten, but that’s a column for another day.

But then, just when you feel ‘free’, the government and all other political parties, succumb to idiotic rhetoric and pass through the house some legislative folly that is little more than a virtue signal:

The tobacco and vapes bill, recently backed by MPs of all flavours is unworkable legislation, devised by simpletons.

Brett Ellis says the tobacco bill is unworkable

As you are by now no doubt aware, the bill means that current 14-year-olds will never be allowed to purchase tobacco products and will be expected, when they are 52 years of age, to have their older, cooler mate, aged 53, go into the shop to illicit some Rothmans before they go behind the bus stop to enjoy their illegal wares.

To police this unworkable bill, £100 on the spot fines will be dished out to put upon shopkeepers who, having given up a career in maths to serve their local communities, will have to use an age calculator to see if the potential purchaser is worthy of service.

These fines will go to local authorities and no doubt a legion of ‘enforcement officers’ will spend their days waiting outside of the local corner shop as they harass the owner into making a costly mistake.

The black market will thrive. Having lost the war on drugs, we are now gearing up for another thrashing as illegal imports, avoiding tax, will flood the streets, as will counterfeits which will do more to harm smokers than normal cigarettes ever have.

Before you come back with the ‘it costs the NHS £17bn a year!’ argument, look at it another way: We are an overpopulated island, why shouldn’t we allow people, if they choose, to limit their lifespans by smoking? More so as smokers die younger, the stamp and taxes they have paid, which go toward their state pensions, will be saved as they won't live long enough to cash in the cheques, they have paid for all their working lives.

• Brett Ellis is a teacher.