In case you missed it, he rose in the commons on Wednesday to rebut Sarah Wollaston's draconian 10 minute rule bill to introduce bans on the majority of alcohol marketing. Below is a teaser, his full speech can be read here.
It will come as no surprise to my hon. Friend Dr Wollaston that I object to the Bill in principle and in practice. Despite her best efforts to suggest otherwise, it is clearly an attempted extension of the nanny state, of which we have had far too much already. It is gesture politics to try to appease the health zealots in this country, most of whom cannot be appeased anyway.Our Phil also popped up at Conservative Home yesterday to comment on the upcoming ban on tobacco displays. It's another recommended read.
There are many products that are bad for us if taken to excess, including alcohol and fatty foods. Is the Government going to ban these products from display as well? It is difficult to stomach seeing the nanny state alive and well with a so-called Conservative Secretary of State for Health – in fact, can anyone spot the difference between this Government and the last lot?In light of the fact that his reply the day before was to a fellow Tory, we can only answer firmly in the negative, more's the pity.
Keep up the good work, old chum.
13 comments:
He also called for a national DNA database.
Oh well. Two out of three aint bad.
Good man that man there!
At least Tory is making the effort to point out the hypocrisies among members of their own party where-as Labour will never have the leadership capacity to own up to such hypocrisies within their party and continue to be the party of willfully ignorant liars.
"The tobacco display ban is gesture politics of the worst kind and a triumph for the nanny state"
It isn't gesture politics, Lansley's display ban is the implementation of Article 13 of the Framework Treaty on Tobacco Control.
Retail sale and display.
13.To ensure that points of sale of tobacco products do not have any promotional elements.
Parties should introduce a total ban on any display and on the visibility of tobacco products at points of sale, including fixed retail outlets and street vendors.
Only textual listing of products and their prices, without any promotional elements, would be allowed.
As for all aspects of Article 13 of the convention, the ban should apply in ferries, airplanes,ports and airports.
14. Vending machines should be banned because they constute by their very presence a means of advertising or promotion under the terms of the Convention.
16. Plain packaging.
http://www.who.int/fctc/guidelines/article_13.pdf
Brave new Tobacco Plan for England
http://www.fctc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=522:new-tobacco-plan-for-england&catid=257:opinion-pieces&Itemid=214
I do wish they'd just stop pretending that its their own idea and make a proper public announcement.
2004
"On the same day as these statistics were published, the UK ratified the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control."
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/17968.php
Hardly public, I think that we all deserve much better than that.
Bucko: He is a Tory so we shouldn't expect pristine libertarianism. On the subjects which are mostly discussed here, though, his approach is exemplary, so I was pleased to see him step up and tackle Wollaston's illiberal nonsense. :)
I would appreciate the gesture of the government finally making a public announcement that we have been signed up to the Framework Treaty on Tobacco Control.
Then at least we would all understand what was going was going on.
Two lines on Medical News Today in 2004,hidden deep in article under the heading -
"More than a million fewer smokers since 1998, UK"
"On the same day as these statistics were published, the UK ratified the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control."
Isn't what I'd call a public announcement, and I think we all deserve better.
Sound familiar?
Article 13 FCTC guidelines
Retail sale and display.
13.To ensure that points of sale of tobacco products do not have any promotional elements.
Parties should introduce a total ban on any display and on the visibility of tobacco products at points of sale, including fixed retail outlets and street vendors.
Only textual listing of products and their prices, without any promotional elements, would be allowed.
As for all aspects of Article 13 of the convention, the ban should apply in ferries, airplanes,ports and airports.
14. Vending machines should be banned because they constute by their very presence a means of advertising or promotion under the terms of the Convention.
16. Plain packaging.
Great MP. We need more like him.
Anon 19:11.
Whether he's a 'great MP' is open to question, but Davies is an honest MP, with clear principles, to which he sticks 'like shit to a blanket'.
He happens to be my local MP and also has a top-notch reputation for his constituency work, and not only for his own voters.
He has turned a marginal into a rock-solid Davies seat - not a rock-solid Tory seat, nor a Cameron, seat, but a 'Davies seat' - as voters of all other persuasions respect his clear, honest and consistent positions, even when they disagree with him.
His greatest risk is that the Boundaries Commission may be 'leaned on' to eliminate this seat in the forthcoming review - if that happens, it is vital he finds another seat, under any label (UKIP would be good), as we need his sort, and more of them, in that den of thieves and ne'er-do-wells.
At Anon 18.52.
I have just recently made a freedom of info request to the Health Dept for details of who signed the Tobacco Convention and asking when the matter was discussed in Parliament.
I understand that I should get a reply in about 2 weeks time.
Dick - True, on the subjects discussed here he is spot on and fair play to him.
However I would still consider an influential MP who wants us all to register our DNA, to be a dangerous man.
At least in the future when I am in prison for refusing to give up my DNA, I will still be allowed to smoke :-)
Bucko: Actually, to be fair, although I disagree with his stance on that he is also hot on the misuse of such a database.
I don't personally think there's a plausible way of mitigating such things, but at least he is thinking about it instead of just blithely proposing something without considering unintended consequences.
Dick - I couldn't disagree more after reading his comments in the MSM this week. 150,000 crimes could be solved overnight. We're letting rapists and murderers go free? Thats just soundbite stuff.
To me, it's not about how they handle the database, it's simply about what happens if I choose to say no.
That would make me a criminal even though I have never harmed another person.
I had the same view about ID cards, fortunately gone now.
The DNA database would not be the huge crimesolving tool its made out to be, just like the tobacco display ban or alcohol advertising bans would not do a thing for "public health".
You cant be for civil liberty on one hand and against it on the other. Freedom from the state comes as a complete package.
I agree with his comments that you have published in your blog but I cannot respect the man.
Junican
I'm very glad to hear that, this implementation by stealth has gone on long enough.
Anon 18.52.
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