Pythonism ! Well we already have Darwinism, now we have Pythonism.
Today (Monday) is the ' The Great British Cigarette Debacle'. It's the day when, by law, all cigarettes in places where these are sold, must be hidden behind closed doors. (These doors have been in situ in supermarkets for some time, but not always closed). No longer will you be able to see these displayed, since the reason behind this is because (apparently) kids find the packets attractive. How they arrive at this theory, is beyond me. I personally, have never found a ciggie packet particularly aesthetic, in fact I've always thought they were all rather bland and uninteresting. And they're certainly not very nice now, with images of blocked arteries and rotting teeth. I don't ever recall seeing a pack with a picture of a 'celebrity' or sportsman, a cartoon character or an Avatar, a nice psychedelic or floral pattern on them. Still, the teenagers find them appealing so it seems.
From today you are not allowed to ask a shopkeeper which are the cheapest brand, because they are not meant to tell you. Some shop owners know which brand of smokes a particular customer buys, and will automatically take them from the shelf without them asking for them. Well not any longer. If they do so, they are breaking the law. They have also been issued with minute price stickers to place over the existing ones. This is because customers are not permitted to actually see the prices, only the person serving them. At the bottom of the sliding doors there is a strip of metal. This is designed to prevent toddlers from looking up and viewing the contents. (Assuming the sprogs can manage to get behind the counter in the first place, of course).
The next salute is that they are thinking of making all cigarette packets plain, which sort of makes all of the above a tad silly. Honestly, you couldn't make it up. And I haven't. This was told to me by the manageress of my local 'Supernews'. Now you may think this was all an edict by the Health & Safety nannies. Not so. It was issued by Comedy Dave and his band of Crackpots.
When you think that a teenager could walk into any supermarket, remove a bottle of Vodka from the shelf, and neck it on the spot if the mood takes them, it makes all of this nonsense above even more ridiculous. Truly, the world has gone bonkers.
Be interested to know if you people in Oz have these doors in front of cigarette displays, or is it just Barmy Britain ?
