Will the anti-smoking groups now disband? Can we stop giving them millions of pounds of public money? Of course not. The crusade marches on.
I have often said that the ban on smoking in cars had nothing to do with children or secondhand smoke. Like all anti-smoking legislation, it is really about harassing and bullying adult smokers. And now that the amendments have made it through parliament, the BBC can let its hair down and speak this truth openly.
Much of the debate about banning smoking in cars has been talked about in terms of protecting children.
That is understandable. Research published in 2009 showed that a single cigarette in a stationary car could produce levels of second-hand smoke 11 times greater than that found in a smoky bar.
Although it should be pointed out that the study also said if the car was moving and a window open it reduced the toxins to well below that level.
Indeed. It's not about secondhand smoke. It's a bluff. (And how obscene that figures based on smoking in a stationary car with all the windows up came to dominate the political discussion and were quoted in the House of Commons this evening.)
But it is also an inescapable fact that this issue is the latest in the fight to make smoking socially unacceptable.
No kidding.
From the smoking ban to the warnings on cigarettes, one of the underlying aims of all interventions is that they should push smoking away from what is considered normal behaviour.
It is, let's face it, the only aim. It is a top-down process of gradual, forceful stigmatisation. This is why those of us with liberal views find the tobacco control movement morally repugnant.
It is now up to ministers to decide whether they want to take this next step. At the moment, they are saying there are no immediate plans, but that could easily change.
There are no immediate plans. The plans get drawn up tomorrow morning.
UPDATE
Sure enough, plans are afoot. Plus, a new article from Nick Triggle: Is a complete ban on smoking next?
