I am, of course, talking about the smoking ban, which, along with sharp increases in beer tax, is killing off the high street pub, as smokers are forced to brave the elements to have their nicotine fix.

The same Parliament who introduced the heavy-handed, near-on dictatorial, measure, has found its staff, like every other smoker in Britain, disgruntled and annoyed with having to stand under their brollies in all weathers to have a sneaky fag.

Unlike the struggling bar trade, however, the UK Parliament has at its disposal the rapidly-increasing tax income to waste invest in its staff morale.

And how did they appease their staff, I hear you ask. By erecting an all-weather smoking shelter – at a cost of ?33,000 to the taxpayer!

If the permanent employees are unwilling to cut down on high levels of public money wastage, then it does not matter how many “new breed politicians” are elected, nor how many bold promises the current, and future, prime minister(s) may make.

Wasting of public money has to stop now – not in a few months’ time – for all our sakes!