I’m a bit late to this, but yesterday was wiped out with a migraine-lite ( all the symptoms of a migraine but not quite as extreme).
Researchers found significant opposition to stealth “sin taxes” on products such as tobacco, alcohol or sugary drinks.
Instead more than 80 per cent of those questioned, excluding ‘don’t knows’, believe it should be down to individuals to make their own lifestyle choices without official interference from Government.
Well, blow me down. The strata populated by the Islingtonata and the political elite is different to that populated by the rest of us. I travel about in the course of my work and I meet all sorts. Mostly blue -collar track workers, but also signallers, drivers, guards and their managers (not to mention the variety of people who come to me for motorcycle training). So a fairly broad spectrum of real people. And pretty much without exception, they grumble about the same stuff I grumble about; too much political interference in our daily lives, too much micromanaging by the state and far too much taxation. So this research comes as no surprise at all. It is merely telling me that the sun rises in the east most days.
Supporters of Ukip were most likely to resent Whitehall meddling in their daily lives, the pollsters found.
It’s entirely possible they’ve got this one the wrong way around. People who are heartily pissed-off with the state poking about in our lives where it has no business doing so, telling us that our behaviour is unacceptable – that what we eat is the new smoking and needs to be regulated or what we have chosen to do is the “new drink driving” or some such, have decided that pint-and-a-fag Farage is an antidote to the political elite who are all the same busy-bodying interfering asinine, self-serving shits who think that their role is to boss us about.
Mark Littlewood, director general of free market think-tank the Institute of Economic Affairs, which commissioned the ComRes survey, said: “These results should be a wake-up call to politicians across the spectrum.
It won’t, though, will it? Because they think they are right and we – the little people – are wrong and need their guidance.
It is clear that the majority of the British public think the nanny state has gone too far and want to be left alone to live their lives as they see fit.
The great British public are right. The Islingtonata are wrong. As a general rule of thumb, if a politician tells me I should be doing something, I will double check. Then I’ll do whatever I please. So, I will do what I can to avoid sin taxes. Belgium sells tobacco at much lower prices than the UK, so a trip to Wipers and back saves a great deal of money – besides a nice little trip and pleasant lunch and means less goes to the exchequer. I make my own choices about what I eat and drink. And I have now removed myself from the organ donor register as a direct consequence of the behaviour of politicians. What is needed is more than me doing this. We all need to do it, to openly flout them, to spit defiance in their faces to tell them in no uncertain terms to fuck off and mind their own business. And, importantly, to deny them our votes.
Yes … I am fully in favour of organ donation.
But I might follow you, just to be awkward, because they are such shits about it.
Which is a shame, because it really is a “worthy cause”, but these arseholes supporting it, pisses one off.
It’s a worthy cause in which the state should play no part.