If smoking is solely down to the individual, does that mean we can save the money the NHS would spend on treating related illnesses? It's up to the individual to pay privately for that?
No, I don't buy that argument I'm afraid.
Where does it stop, after all? Should the individual have to pay privately for alcohol-related diseases? For diseases related to eating too much fatty foods or sugar? For cancer induced by sunburn? All these things were arguably "caused" by decisions made by the individual, but to me that seems a very brutal way of running things.
but that is nothing in relation to the NF inspired ranting of Braverman - her speech was full of dog whistle crank right words and phrases.
Indeed, but there's already been much (deserved, and some from myself) robust criticism of Braverman on here already.
One problem with the policy that I haven’t seen discussed is the future impact on smokers wishing to move to the UK from abroad. Is our response that they have to either give up or not come?
Don't come. That would be consistent with their general apparent attitude towards foreigners emigrating here, after all.
They're not going to win the next election, end of. I don't think they even want to win the next election.
They're far more likely to go full 1993 Canada than win.
Ah yes, that was the "two seats" one, wasn't it?
I think it is much too early to make even the broadest predictions about the outcome of the next election. So much has changed, is changing and will change: ‘a week is a long time in politics’ (most likely, but not definitely, said by Harold Wilson). Just about the only thing that is clear is that the next election is Labour’s to lose, but the party is good at that.
I do disagree here. I think the Tory party have moved so far to the right that they are just not going to appeal to the middle. And to win an election, you have to appeal to the middle.
A mixture of revolting hard-right nonsense from the likes of Braverman and amateurish poor delivery from Sunak is not a winning combination. Labour would have to absolutely catastrophically slip up to lead to an outcome with the Tories as the largest party, surely.