Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

How the Tories gave up on liberty

issue 03 February 2024

Rishi Sunak stood glowering over a school table and listed, with disdain, the flavours of the vapes that lay on the table in front of him. ‘Grapefruit,’ the Prime Minister declared. ‘Bubblegum. Strawberry. Berry Burst.’ Pupils at Haughton Academy were then invited to express their own disgust: ‘Bright colours,’ observed one student. ‘Appealing to younger people,’ said another.

‘Do you think that’s right?’ the Prime Minister asked the circle of 13- and 14-year-olds. ‘No,’ they dutifully answered. Sunak told the students, in a video posted to his Instagram account, that the ‘good news’ is that he is announcing a full ban on disposable vapes and a crackdown on packaging and flavours that might be particularly popular with the young.

The question is whether someone’s after-­dinner cigar or trip to the shisha café is anyone else’s business

What he failed to mention is that the vapes he brought in for show-and-tell are already illegal for children to buy.

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