...and while we're on the "unintended consequences of New Puritanism":
People selling illegal cigarettes are robbing Bradford’s newsagents of desperately-needed trade, according to the National Federation of Retail Newsagents. Stephen Hunter, the Federation’s Bradford secretary says the knock-on effects of people buying their tobacco from elsewhere means they don’t pop into their local shop for other things either.
So the war on smoking is finding another victim - hundreds of small businesses threatened, thousands of jobs gone and all in the name of "public health". Just imagine how the minimum pricing on booze will work - corner shops closing as moonshine and smuggled spirits are chosen ahead of buying legit stuff in a shop.
You see New Puritans, you can't (really - look at levels of marijuana use) stop people. And, in trying to do that, the collateral damage to the lives of ordinary people is far more damaging than any of your guesses about how banning booze, fags and burgers will make us all happy, malleable citizens.
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