Smokers - the new Lepers

UK; the government has announced $50 million of taxpayers money will be made available to train 1,200 council officers armed with the power to hand down on-the-spot fines of $100 and the ability to secretly film the public. The offence?

Smoking.

Meanwhile, while the government fiddles, Rome burns

Oh, by the way, the government collects $20 billion a year from tobacco taxes and only spends $3.3 billion of that on tobacco related illnesses, according to ASH, the anti-smoking lobby.

The State just keeps getting bigger and bigger and more powerful.