Vape ban, smoking ban: Rishi Sunak's "nanny s...

Reform clearing its own officials of breaking party funding law, Kemi Badenoch’s inheritance tax gambit and was Britain really better off in the 1980s?Anoosh Chakelian is joined by Will Dunn for our weekly round up. READ: https://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/2026/1 ...  Show more

Labour has held the Holborn and St Pancras by-election, with Sagal Abdi-Wali retaining the seat for the party despite a hard-fought contest from Green Party leader Zack Polanski.The result preserves Labour’s long-standing grip on the constituency, and disrupts Polanski’s momentum ...  Show more

'Absolutely nuts' was how former Prime Minister Boris Johnson described Rishi Sunak’s plan to gradually phase out smoking – banning anyone born since the start of 2009 from ever being able to buy cigarettes or tobacco products like vapes.  
  
Liz Truss, who was also br ...  Show more

As the dust settles after Rishi Sunak’s conference speech, Adam and Chris focus on the fallout from the biggest talking points, including the prime minister’s plans to ban smoking for younger generations.They’re joined by doctor and TV presenter Alexander "Dr Xand" van Tulleken t ...  Show more

Australia is to ban recreational vaping in one of the biggest crackdowns on the tobacco industry. The government aims to ban all disposable vapes, which often come in fruity flavours, ban the import of non-prescription vapes and limit nicotine levels, aiming for the sale of vapes ...  Show more

After Rishi Sunak delayed the ban on buy-one-get-one-free deals on fatty foods for two years, Matt takes stock of how much the nanny state is policing what we put in our shopping baskets and debates whether more government regulation could help solve the obesity crisis. < ...