You must have seen this today.
Yes, it's the oleaginous Andy Burnham trying, as A Tory sagely points out, to increase his profile in the jockeying for position ahead of Brown's bunkered demise.
The whole thing is all very dramatic but what I find most interesting is that, at last, Labour have abandoned the silly pretence that the smoking ban was about health.
Take this, for example.
And there will be a review of smoking legislation, which could see public bans extended to places such as the entrances of buildings.
The prime - in fact the only - reason why Labour reneged on their 2005 manifesto commitment to exempt private members clubs and 'wet' pubs - why they eliminated any choice at all, without recourse to voters - was to protect bar workers.
Howard Stoate, Labour rodent for Dartford and member of the health select committee, explained the reason for his pushing for an anti-democratic blanket ban.
He said that public opinion had moved "very quickly" on smoking and that, as a GP, he could not "stand back and allow some workers to be exposed to secondhand smoke."
Yet now Labour are seriously talking about banning smoking near entrances. And the scientific proof that smoking outdoors can be dangerous to health is ... ?
Nowhere. It doesn't exist.
Of course, it is impossible for it to exist, considering that to get merely an incredibly weak correlation for passive smoking indoors, anti-smokers conducted study after study after study on non-smokers living with smokers in sealed environments over decades, with no ventilation. The vast majority came up inconclusive or, to their horror, showed a protective effect.
The only way they could create some kind of headline was after cherry-picking the most favourable studies, lumping them all in together, and then changing scientific practice to make the limp thing stand up ... a bit.
Already, this makes the threat of a couple of hours in a pub with separate smoking/non-smoking areas, and ventilation, quite inconsequential. So merely walking past smokers outside a doorway for a few seconds poses no health consequence whatsoever. And no amount of science fraud will ever prove otherwise.
Which all points to Labour effectively now resorting to legislation to ban an unpleasant (for some) smell.
The victory of bigotry over common sense.
Once again, we see Labour, the champion of the selfish and anti-social, striking a blow against community, tolerance, and property rights.
Still, I suppose we should be thankful that they have finally given up the pretence that their policies are anything more altruistic than bullying, control and spite.
If you smoke, Labour despise you. Vote against them tactically wherever you are, show them that the sentiment is mutual.
