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Samizdata quote of the day – Labour is just going where the ‘Conservatives’ were heading Starmer has also always been happy to be accused of running a ‘nanny state’. Much of the agenda that he and his Health Secretary Wes Streeting have revealed more widely for the NHS borders on that, with a focus on preventive healthcare rather than waiting until a patient needs acute (and more expensive) treatment. But an interesting question is whether the new government would have gone for this kind of ban had the Tories not already suggested it. As Katy explains here, the fact that Rishi Sunak championed the move first has made it much easier for Labour to take steps to crack down on smoking more generally. It is, she says, plausible that this approach could be extended to fast food and alcohol consumption. In fact, it wouldn’t make much sense if Starmer talks about the cost to the NHS of smoking but takes no action on obesity, even if that problem is far more complex than the relatively easy win of making it harder to smoke cigarettes.
And it will be much harder for the Conservatives to argue against those further moves because they were the ones who started all this off – in legislative terms, at least.
– The Spectator
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Hard to argue with this.
I can not even deploy my normal defence that Conservative ministers were forced against their will by officials – Quangos and so on.
As it is quite clear that former Prime Minister Sunak agreed with both Civil Servants and the Quangos (independent, but taxpayer funded, bodies), he was very much on the same page with them.
Someone with the opinions of Mr Sunak would not have been elected by ordinary party members, or by the public. As Douglas Carswell (former Member of Parliament for Clacton) pointed out – Mr Sunak was not even freely adopted by a local Conservative Association as their candidate – he was sent in (as an “A lister” – basically adopt this person as your candidate, or bad things will be done to you) by “Central Office”.
But most Conservative Members of Parliament did vote for him – which indicates either that they did not understand what the opinions of their colleague were (which is odd – as I have never met the Gentleman, but I was well aware what his opinions are) or that they shared his opinions.
Sadly it is necessary to point out that because one does not hold with the idea that the state should control every aspect of the lives of ordinary people does NOT mean that one supports people getting drunk, smoking, eating lots of junk food, and-so-on.
There is a notion today that if one is against the state banning something – that means one is in favour of that thing.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Prime Minister Gladstone correctly said – of one thing I am certain, it is not by the action of the state that the conduct of the people can be improved.
But that insight of Gladstone and other Classical Liberals is totally rejected in our United Nations and World Economic Forum world.
As for the cartoon under the post….
There is a myth endlessly put about (I heard it, yet again, only last night – at a council meeting) that public services are a mess because of “cuts” – in reality government spending on the National Health Service and-so-on has been massively INCREASED.
“The cuts” are a lie – the idea that government spending is being cut on the NHS and so on has always been a lie. It was a lie when the BBC, and so on, started to push this “cuts” lie after the election of 1979 – and it has been a lie ever since (some 45 years now).
After 45 years of this lie it is astonishing that it is still carries on – but it does (again I heard it only last night).
I suppose it is because traditional religion (actual theology) has so declined – so people worship the state instead of God.
So when the state does not deliver the things they want (health, education and so on) they assume it must be because wicked people have “cut the funding” – no matter how much government spending has increased.
A related myth is that “the rich” are not paying their “fair share” of taxation.
One can certainly legitimately attack the source of much wealth, as much of it comes from the “Cantillon Effect” (named after Richard Cantillon) of Credit Money expansion, but this is nothing to do with taxation.
“Sadly it is necessary to point out that because one does not hold with the idea that the state should control every aspect of the lives of ordinary people does NOT mean that one supports people getting drunk, smoking, eating lots of junk food, and-so-on.”
Yes indeed.
Also, the NHS is not “free” but paid for by taxpayers – including those who drink, smoke and eat fast food.
Is government spending ever cut?
Well sometimes is it cut – even in peacetime.
President Warren Harding cut government spending from a peacetime (1920) total – that is the real reason he is hated by the establishment and its education system (his Administration was certainly NOT more corrupt than other Administrations that are admired – such as that of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman).
Governor Bushfield of South Dakota cut government spending – and he did so in the teeth of the Great Depression.
So it does sometimes happen – but it certainly has not happened over the last 45 years in the United Kingdom.
Anyone who says “Thatcher cut government spending” or talks about “Tory cuts over the last 14 years” is a liar.
JJM – quite so.
I rather expect that a lot of the recent Labour Government announcements are ‘just’ distractions. Perhaps hiding the fact that Starmer and Co don’t know what to do with Government now that they have caught it.
Aided and abetted by the Blob they are happy to exclaim “Something must be done!” as long as it is not too demanding.
This Labour Administration is faced with an unusual ( if not unprecedented ) problem – the public finances are in poor shape. The standard procedure is that they inherit a good position that they then proceed to wreck. That’s not so this time. However, every measure they have announced so far at both national and local level will make the problem worse.
The expenditure cuts are counterproductive and will increase costs in the longer term, while the revenue raising efforts – always through tax increases – will actually reduce revenues to the Exchequer.
We knew it was going to be bad, and that’s already becoming obvious, but thankfully their room for maneuver is limited. A friend who is good at this stuff thinks the upcoming budget could trigger another Truss/Kwarteng meltdown because of the weakness and inexperience of the new Treasury team, and the lack of credibility of their policies. To say nothing of the impact of the Ukraine default.
The outdoor smoking ban is ludicrous. The idea of NHS “workplace weigh-ins” is pure Orwell. What are they gonna do with the tubsters? Roll ’em into the back of the van to the Soylent Green factory? This would of course help us reach “Net Zero”.
Discovered Joys has hit the nail on the head.
Captain Hindsight & Co are out of their depth. That doesn’t, alas, mean they won’t do a lot of harm in the next few years.
Johnathan Pearce – yes.