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TOBACCO FIRMS COULD be forced to pay a “polluter” tax to help smokers quit, while the legal age for buying tobacco should rise every year, according to a review commissioned by the UK Government.
The minimum age at which people can buy a tobacco product in England should go up by a year annually until the point where no-one can buy them, said Dr Javed Khan, who led the study into how England can become smoke-free.
Among his 15 recommendations, Dr Khan issued four “critical must-dos” for the UK Government to be acted upon immediately, including an extra £125 million per year to fund the support that smokers need to help them quit.
This should include investing an extra £70 million per year in stop smoking services, “ringfenced for this purpose”, the report said.
“If the Government cannot fund this themselves, they should ‘make the polluter pay’ and either introduce a tobacco industry levy, or generate additional corporation tax, with immediate effect,” it added.
The second “must-do” is to increase the age of sale from 18, by one year every year, until no-one can buy a tobacco product.
The third call is to promote vaping as an “effective tool to help people to quit smoking tobacco”, which, although not a risk-free “silver bullet”, is better than smoking.
Fourthly, prevention “must become part of the NHS’s DNA”, Dr Khan said, adding that the health service must do more to advise and support smokers to quit “at every interaction they have with health services”.
At the moment, England is on track to miss its target to make the country smoke-free by 2030, which means 5% or fewer adults smoke.
Smoking causes nearly one in five cancer cases and more than one in four cancer deaths each year in the UK. Almost six million people in England still smoke.
Around one third of adult tobacco consumption is by people with a current mental health condition and they are twice as likely to smoke as the general population.
Dr Khan put the annual cost to society of smoking at around £17 billion (£2.4 billion to the NHS alone) and said “making smoking obsolete in England would lift around 2.6 million adults and one million children out of poverty”.
Dr Khan, former chief executive of children’s charity Barnardo’s, also called for a tobacco licence for retailers to limit the availability of tobacco across the country, a rethink of the way cigarette sticks and packets look to reduce their appeal, and a mass media campaign to encourage smokers to quit.
The Government should also ban online sales for all tobacco products – the “wild west” for sales – and ban supermarkets from selling tobacco.
Furthermore, Dr Khan said the Government should “substantially” raise the cost of duties (more than 30%) across all tobacco products to make smoking more expensive and abolish duty free cigarettes.
An extra £15 million per year must be invested for enforcing crackdowns against the sale of illicit tobacco and giving “trading standards the power to close down” retailers known to be selling it.
Other recommendations include imprinting individual cigarettes with statements such as “smoking kills”, a 9pm watershed and 18 rating on any film or TV programme depicting smoking, plus mandatory on-screen health warnings.
Smoking should also be banned outside cafes, restaurants and pubs, and in all outdoor areas where children are present, for example, public beaches.
Stop smoking campaigns should also be put back on TV and councils should work to make 70% of council housing new tenancies and new developments smoke-free, the report said.
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It was indeed a stupid thing to say but has apologised and he clearly doesn’t condone rape so lets move on and not make a scapegoat out of him.
@Coner Willis: fairly said.
@Coner Willis: agreed. It was a stupid joke he said 4 years ago and had openly apologised. Let it go.
The world has gone fu(kin mad at this stage with the political correctness.
@Alan Pike: objection to rape “jokes” is not about political correctness. It is about opposing the making of a supposed joke of real sexual violence against women.
@Fiona deFreyne: Tony , Tony , what can we do with you ?
You are conspicuously absent when Islam is at fault .
Now you’re picking on some words of an actor from 5 years ago . I’ll give you a heads up , Muhammed encouraged the rape of women , this guy is a numpty actor , if he has committed a crime then he’s in trouble .
@Paddy Hayden: you get that name confusion again.
All or any religions, often patriarchical, which tolerate condone , promote or imply approval of rape are wrong and evil. That includes any sect of Islam if they promote rape.
Rape, of course, is not confined to the practitioners of one religion or any religion.
@Fiona deFreyne: Strange how you fail to acknowledge that in Islam if a woman is not covered she’s game for the lads .
I’ll gladly have it out with you . You and your ilk , defending Islam .
Or have you got a different version ?
@Paddy Hayden: you’ve a very bad case of islamaphobia paddy, I hope you find a cure some day and let go of all the hate, it’s not healthy!
@goon4life: The goon title says it all , if i have a hatred of islam I’ll gladly sit here and argue the toss .
You see , goonlife , I’ve been around the world , there’s a problem developing , and it’s not Irishness.
@Paddy Hayden: @Paddy Hayden: I’ve been around the world myself, in fact I live in a multicultural Canadian city at the min, and there is now issues here, intolerance like yours isn’t accepted. You’re not wrong tho, there is problems in the world but it’s not “developing” it been here a long time, and it’s not simply caused by muslims as you seem to think, it’s caused by neo liberal capitalist agendas being forced upon people all over the globe, also the world super powers (US, Russia, UK, China, Israel, Iran etc etc) and their intelligence communities pursuing their own geopolitical interests in regions around the world. You’re probably most familiar with the proxy war in Syria. My advice to you is put down the Daily Mail or whatever garbage you do read and educate yourself a bit!
@goon4life: It’s not what I read , it’s what an islamist reads , and it’s called the Quran . In that book you’ll find all the garbage you need to live a bad life , and at the end if you want to check out , just go on jihad , there’ll be a spot in heaven for you .
I feel sorry for you living in Canada , Trudeau is working his magic .
He has lived in an Ivory tower , was a part time everything , and believes he knows best . The man’s a shyster , I’m not sure if Canada will survive his reign , especially when he has allowed the likes of Iqra Khalid to worm their way into Canadian society .
@Fiona deFreyne: but it wasn’t making a joke about real sexual violence against women though, was he? He was talking about the on-screen portrayal of sexual violence, which, by definition, is not “real sexual violence against women”..
@Paddy Hayden: ah ok so you are a scholar of the Quran? Where did you go to study it? And you’re an expert in international politics? Are you a professor at trinity, or do you just google shit and only read the shit that suits your opinions?!
@Fiona deFreyne: “opposing the making of a supposed joke of real sexual violence against wonen”
What about men or young boys??? But then they are the enemy aren’t they!
Interesting how everyone on here seems to support his apology and say move on, but for George Hook there was a different standard applied…
@Tom Tom: it is interesting. George was making a hypothetical devils advocate comment to himself but was also I believe held to account for previous comments he had made in the past. With this guy it’s a joke albeit an insensitive one, it’s a once off, it was a long time ago allowing room for maturing since then and he has gone to make a film about women’s rights thus absolving himself to some extent.
@Sean: Hook was a take down plain and simple. There were people waiting in the long grass to pounce at the first opportunity, he gave it to them by the ambiguity of his question, which could be read as victim blaming if that’s the way they actively wanted to view it. This actor guy was being an inconsiderate moron, he should’ve felt the heat from that at the time, but ffs. Trawling through everyone’s past comments, bad jokes and associations with the condemned has become the new sport, Offence Fever. Like looking for a red under the bed, people really do hunt in packs.
I like how The Journal includes tweets from nobodies in their articles.
It was a light hearted comment made about how crazy actors roles can be and it was FIVE years ago! Seriously what is going on these days. What kind of losers are trawling through archive footage in a desperate search to find content they can be offended by?
@The Guru: it’s actually getting a bit scary. It wasn’t his finest hour but should it really only be assessed now ….and internationally? He didn’t perve over anyone unlike Harvey wankstain.
All the actors alongside him who laughed should also issue public apologies
Some Irish Gardai do a strong line in rape jokes but when it is against female protesters it is acceptable.
Rape jokes are still prevalent in Ireland but increasingly objected to by men as well as by women.
@Fiona deFreyne: Rape jokes are prevalent are you trolling? I don’t know any man that would consider a joke about rape funny.
@Declan Byrne: you never ever heard a male telling a rape joke? Interesting.
@Declan Byrne: remember the Guards who arrested the female protestors at the Shell to Sea protests and joked about raping them in a squad car?
@Fiona deFreyne: well maybe if the “protesters ” had not been shouting “stop raping me” when they were being arrested therefore demeaning and trivializing actual rape then we could take your comment seriously. Oh and i don’t believe im wrong in saying that the poor “protesters” edited the tape to suit their own agenda and refused to hand over the original to be examined.. The Gardai were not making light of rape in that incident they were talking about the carry on of the “protesters” who were shouting rape as they were being arrested.
@Fiona deFreyne: fu*k me are you an expert on everything Tony? Always commenting but never reviewing how your guests are getting on. Are they integrating? What was the last camogie match they supported?
@Kinsaleable: feeble excuses for nasty types. Nothing excuses rape “jokes”. Only men beneath contempt make such jokes. Fortunately most men don’t and won’t tolerate such “jokes”.
@KingBen: ever manage to make a relevant comment?
@Fiona deFreyne: Im not making any excuse for anything or anyone Fiona because there was no “joke”. The “protesters” were the ones who were the nasty types in that situation though. They were the ones who shouted rape whist being arrested when they were clearly not being raped. They demeaned and trivialised the act of rape for victims because they had an agenda to try and make the Gardai look bad by editing the tape.. you would do well to add an element of fairness to your tripe if you really have to post rubbish. You have no problem casting aspersions on those Gardai on a whim while ignoring the background and findings of the subsequent inquiry.. There was no joke.
@Fiona deFreyne: continuing from my previous comment . The FEMALE “protesters” did a disservice to victims everywhere with their behaviour. You would want to remember that those Gardai are human too and just because they wear a uniform doesn’t make them fair game when you decide to come out with some drivel like you just posted…
@Fiona deFreyne: what freeking world are you living in. Get real
@Fiona deFreyne: always but after you tell us how your guests are getting on Tony.
@Fiona deFreyne: wanna play the rape game? No? That’s the spirit!
@George Beckett: rape is too serious to joke about. In fact, I once saved a girl from being raped. I stopped chasing her…..
@Fiona deFreyne: tits
Everyone offended again
Obviously meant as an unfortunate joke. In the wake of the Weinstein horror story everything anybody ever said is being scrutinised. Famous but fallible
The bubble has well and truly burst for the majority of us the only people here that looks foolish are the ones pretending to be outraged
He should call it locker-room talk and run for President.
@Diarmuid: The difference is that he has actually been in a locker room in the last few years.As for the Donald being in one ? I’d say that he hasn’t been in one in 40 odd years..No,wait.I’m wrong on that one.. Sure,didn’t he enter a teenage girls locker room while they were changing?
I will always remember him as Ronan from stargate.. or maybe now the guy who got slated for a joke he made years ago.
Just the “recreationally outraged” showing their heads again. Nothing to see here. Move along.
A guy walked into a bar, asked the barmaid for a double entendre so she gave him one
Ah get over it
Its OK to be offended by a joke but it is a joke
Zzzzzzzzzzzzz
6 YEARS ago….. 6 facking years AGO….. what kind of loner digs up this kind of stuff, anyway what’s game of thrones gonna do… Kill him off he’s been dead years yis TICKS
What an idiotic comment to make , but I doubt he’s a rapist , and I would imagine he said it in the sense of his movie roles .
I don’t watch game of thrones , I don’t think it’s reality .
He’s an actor , google him , From what I know about him , he loves his family .
He’d probably beat you to death if you messed with his kids .
That is rough…
Can i be outraged please
@John Smith: You have to sign a consent form for that . Just in case your outrage is viewed as (I give up) anything different in a few years time .
When all of you are denying rape culture exists this is how the structure is built. These comments are what normalises it.
He makes a lousy aquaman and now with his rape comments doubly so.
Typical juice head
Seriously, this was years ago. Why does anyone hive a shit?
The audience should be ashamed of themselves.
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