Politicians: the most obvious reason for plain packaging for cigarettes

I have to admit that I am sceptical about the idea that plain packaging will do much to reduce smoking. Given that my father is in advertising, he may well disagree with me, but as a non-smoker, I am slightly bemused by the idea that pretty packaging lulls otherwise sensible people into believing that cigarettes are anything other than bad for them.

Frankly, if big signs on the packets that say things like, "Smoking Kills!" don't stop people, taking the colour of the packets is hardly likely to have a significant impact. However, I bow to the knowledge of those who have done the research on this and, as long as they don't ban cigars - I like the smell of a good cigar - I'm fairly relaxed about it. It isn't, after all, impinging on people's right to smoke.

But I had begun to assume that cigarette packets were already, at least on the back, plain. After all, Nigel Farage must be writing his party's policies somewhere...

Nigel Farage and the Electoral Commission - "He doesn't like it up him, Mr Mainwaring!"

"The Electoral Commission is failing in all its key duties" says @Nigel_Farage http://t.co/kTs1AX0BB0
— UKIP (@UKIP) March 7, 2015

It seems that Nigel Farage UKIP policy is now to abolish the Electoral Commission, following Our Nigel's speech in Torquay yesterday. Apparently, it is the Electoral Commission that is responsible for the fall in the numbers on the electoral register, and it is failing to do its job in terms of ruling out joke or spoiler parties.

Perhaps Nigel should check on its remit in the first instance. Electoral registration is handled by local government - is that to be abolished too, Nigel? - and is good in some places, not so good in others. Perhaps he might encourage UKIP councillors to provide more funding for this...

And, as for joke or spoiler parties, is he referring to "We Demand a Referendum Now" or "An Independence from Europe"? They were, after all, political parties with MEPs (alright, ex-UKIP MEPs but whose fault was that?) and Mike Nattrass did pick up 234,000 votes. The 1994 European Parliamentary election in Devon and East Plymouth, in which a Literal Democrat candidate took 10,000 votes - Adrian Sanders lost by 700 - was a far more egregious attempt to mislead and led to the Registration of Political Parties Act 1998.

It is perhaps necessary to look at one comment from his speech in particular;

Yes, it is true that many of these impacts are specifically targeted at UKIP, but that is neither here nor there.

One is minded to ask, is there some relationship between Nigel being fined by the Electoral Commission over omissions from his financial reporting and his view that they should be abolished?

There is, I suppose, only one more question to ask Nigel UKIP - if the Electoral Commission is to be abolished, what are you proposing to replace it with? And no, the answer doesn't involve the words 'Europe' or 'immigration'...