Cancer, coupons and cant
No drain of brains or skills is likely to de- pnve us, evidently, of our ample ...national talent for cant. This week's news that cigar- ette coupons are to be forbidden is a prime example, and (night net to be allowed to pass without being recognised for what it is The Cabinet, in the face Of the dis- turbing link between smoking and lung cancer, has adopted a righteous attitude of disapproval, but has avoided any action which might drastically diminish the huge exchequer revenue which the tobacco tax provides. The proposed ban on cigarette 'gift' coupons is Simply another of those moral gestures which in reality ire meaningless ex- cept as sources of self-satisfaction for their authors. There is no other way of interpreting an action which is allegedly, designed to re-. duce duce cigarette smoking but w hich can only have the effect of making many cigarettes cheaper. . Any govermnent Which wished to attack the nation's addiction to tobacco in an effec- tive way could easily do so simply by doub- ling .. - ling or perhaps trebling the tax on it -7-and lose revenue as well as popu- larity. Both these consequences being judged unacceptable, we are provided instead with expressions of pious concern, and petti- fogging interference with the details of cigar- ette marketing. If cigarette coupons were 'the cause of cancer, the nation would now be benevolently set upon the road to health. As it is, the nation Will simply. -get the cigarettes without the coupons—but with generous helpings of humbug supplied, gratis, instead.
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