Mirror, smoke signal, manoeuvre

So, the onslaught against smokers continues. They can't smoke at work, or in company cars. They can't light up in the pub, or, in some areas, take their pint outside with them if they nip out for a cig. In fact, smoking in any enclosed or semi-enclosed public space is a nono. And now, in the latest round of nanny-state interference with their freedom, they are likely to be prevented from smoking while they drive their own cars.

The latest edition of the Highway Code says that drivers shouldn't be distracted by passengers, by loud music, by reading a map, or using a mobile phone or by smoking. Presumably written by anti-smoking melophobic homing hermits, the new Code is 42 pages longer than the old one, and has 29 new rules.

Of course it is. Have you ever met a pen pusher who, given the chance to revamp a document, will make it SHORTER? No, neither have I. Bureaucrats thrive on dreaming up rules and regulations, and then trying to impose them on everyone else. They are incapable of even considering the possibility that they, and the rules they concoct, are a waste of valuable space that might be more profitably filled with, for example, nothing at all.

Sadly, dispensing with their "services" doesn't seem to be an option in 21st Century Britain, where first Nanny Tony and now Nanny Gordon think they know what's best for all of us. The way things are going, we'll be putting up with the dour, tooth-sucking Nanny G for a long time to come. And even if by some fluke of electoral perversity he's replaced by Nanny Dave, I can't see how things will improve much - or, for the smoker, at all.

The smoker-bashing attitude that seems to be at the heart of public policy is nothing less than government sponsored persecution of approximately 25% of the British population. If prohibitive laws were made, and enforced, on the basis of the colour of someone's skin, their religious beliefs or their sexual orientation there would be outrage, and quite rightly so.

Why, then, should smokers have to tolerate such heavy handed meddling with their fundamental right to self determination? In short, they shouldn't. This and other nonsense has gone way too far, and I, for one, have had enough. I want my country back - you know, the Britain that had common sense and didn't want or need thousands of do-gooding pen pushers telling us how we must (not even should, but MUST) run our lives.

Since that's not likely to happen, I'm off to Amazon - The Beginners' Guide to Declaring A Republic sounds just what I need...

Billy Seggars.