Under The Counter: Cigarettes, Plastic Bags And Porn
“CIGARETTES to be sold under the counter,” says the Time’s front-page headline.
Says the paper: “When the ban on displaying tobacco products is implemented England will join just a handful of others to have taken the step. Ontario, Canada, has passed legislation forcing cigarettes under the counter which comes into effect this May. Two administrations in Australia - Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory - are also taking steps to keep tobacco out of sight.”
This is the UK’s peer group, an outpost in Canada looking for an identity - and Canada’s Most Intolerant Province” is a start - and bits of ozone depleted Australia.
And through the smoke we see a vision of the future. See the smoker approaching the check out girl, a light sweat forming on his brow, hands growing clammy, face reddening. Fear. Death . Addiction.
Man: Do you have any biros?
Shop girl: Blue or black?
Man: Blue…er, blue… And a Lucky Dip, please. And a packet of chewing gum and some headache tablets.
Shop girll: Anyfink else?
The shopper leans forward and whispers, his not breathy crosses the counter.
A security guard fingers his walkie-talkie. Eyes narrow. A queue has formed. Sounds of shuffling feet. Tutting.
Man: The man reaches inside a carrier bag (cries of “Shame!”, “Murderer!” and “Kill him!” are heard). He produces a copy of Necrafillia Monthly and whispers “..and Twenty Bensons. Wrap them in this please.”
Shop Girl: Twenty Bensons, was that? TWENTY BENSONS.”
The man throws a pile of cash at the girl. He is running. Running. Eyes burning holes in his flesh.
Next!
March 24th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
At school we used to buy singles from the van - and it used to have to park in the woods so the polis wouldn’t bust us. Happy days.
March 24th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
I am opening a business constructing two storey counters for tobacconists. Anyone want to get in on the ground floor?
March 24th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
lepers were required to wear bells and cry
“Unclean! Unclean!”
The good ‘ole days….
March 24th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
1 karen
We had an ice cream van which used to park outside the school everyday and flog singles in brown paper bags! My son goes to the same school and low and behold last week there it was again - same bloke, same van…nasty
March 24th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
I will train the shop assistants to snarl ‘You dirty, dirty bastard! Away with you!’ every time they sell some cigarettes.
March 24th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
I think anyone seen lighting up in public should be shot in the face. This will learn ‘em…
March 24th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
6
Anorak
Not much point buying a pack of 20 in that case
March 24th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
It is reckoned that at least 30 per-cent of the cigarettes and tabacco smoked in the UK are brought in illegally and sold on the black market.
I remember someone mentioning that pubs and their staff and owners could get into serious trouble with the Customs and Excise people if they “did someone a favour” and put cartons of cigarettes BEHIND the bar.
If the Customs people did enter the pub and wanted receipts for ALL the cigarettes, the failure to produce receipts for ALL of the cigarettes could result in action being taken against those involved, and, if found guilty the might face a possible prison sentence.
This under the counter approach to cigarettes,and porn seems rather backward to me.Today, unlike forty or fifty years ago cigarette packets give clear information about the danger to health and even shocking photos of people with cancer. Nothing has stopped people buying cigarettes and there continues to be a surprising amount of young people puffing away everywhere.
Yes, it can be a difficult habit to break once you start,but with all the publicity about the health hazards with smoking it has made my personal opinion of smokers drop considerably.I know many non-smokers who think the same way.
There is nothing smart or cool about smoking unless you dream is the mortuary slab.
March 25th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Well done Dawn Primarolo, regarding the forecasted one billion tobacco deaths this century and that 90% of smokers become addicted while impressionable children.
There is a fundamental moral obligation to protect children from harm!
And to protect freedom! Yes “Freedom” - Addiction is slavery!
google Actors smoking children click on Friction TV
Stuart Holmes,
Anti Smoking Campaigner.