Rishi Sunak’s position on smoking ban ‘unchanged’ as New Zealand scraps policy
Rishi Sunak said he plans to continue with his smoking ban after New Zealand reversed its own flagship policy.
New Zealand’s new coalition government has announced its intention to revoke legislation passed by the previous liberal administration designed to make it a smoke-free nation.
Last year the country became the first in the world to outlaw smoking for the next generation. The policy meant anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 would never be able to buy tobacco.
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It provided a blueprint for Mr Sunak’s tough measures announced at the Tory party conference in Manchester last month.
The prime minister said England’s ban means: “A 14-year-old today will never legally be sold a cigarette and… they and their generation can grow up smoke-free.”
Asked whether Mr Sunak would consider following Wellington’s lead, a spokeswoman for the prime minister said: “No, our position remains unchanged.
“We are committed to that.
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PM says next generation will ‘grow up smoke-free’
“This is an important long-term decision and step to deliver a smoke-free generation which remains critically important.”
It means the UK will likely have the toughest smoking laws in the world once New Zealand’s reversal comes into effect.
The U-turn in New Zealand comes after a new coalition deal ended six weeks of negotiations following the general election on October 14.
The election saw the country shift to the right, with a win for the Conservative National Party under Christopher Luxon ending six years of a Labour government.
Under New Zealand’s proportional voting system, parties typically need to form alliances in order to command a governing majority.
Some Tory MPs have criticised Mr Sunak’s smoking ban, alongside the tobacco industry.
Hailed by health campaigners, critics have described it as “illiberal”, “anti-Conservative” and compared it to “creeping prohibition”.
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Youngster on ‘smoke-free generation’
Former prime minister Liz Truss is among those set to vote against the move, when it goes to a free vote in the Commons.
However the legislation is likely to pass, with Labour signalling it will support the measure.
Smoking is the UK’s biggest preventable killer, causing around one in four cancer deaths and leading to 64,000 deaths per year in England, according to Dr Javed Khan’s 2022 review into making smoking obsolete.
It is hoped the policy will prevent tens of thousands of deaths and save the NHS billions of pounds.
Downing Street said it expects up to 1.7 million fewer people to be smoking by 2075 as a result.
Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, marks their 50th birthday amid a year of rising institutional and geopolitical adoption of the world’s first cryptocurrency.
The identity of Nakamoto remains one of the biggest mysteries in crypto, with speculation ranging from cryptographers like Adam Back and Nick Szabo to broader theories involving government intelligence agencies.
While Nakamoto’s identity remains anonymous, the Bitcoin (BTC) creator is believed to have turned 50 on April 5 based on details shared in the past.
According to archived data from his P2P Foundation profile, Nakamoto once claimed to be a 37-year-old man living in Japan and listed his birthdate as April 5, 1975.
Source: Web.archive.org
Nakamoto’s anonymity has played a vital role in maintaining the decentralized nature of the Bitcoin network, which has no central authority or leadership.
The Bitcoin wallet associated with Nakamoto, which holds over 1 million BTC, has laid dormant for more than 16 years despite BTC rising from $0 to an all-time high above $109,000 in January.
Satoshi Nakamoto statue in Lugano, Switzerland. Source: Cointelegraph
Nakamoto’s 50th birthday comes nearly a month after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a Digital Asset Stockpile, marking the first major step toward integrating Bitcoin into the US financial system.
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Nakamoto’s legacy: a “cornerstone of economic sovereignty”
“At 50, Nakamoto’s legacy is no longer just code; it’s a cornerstone of economic sovereignty,” according to Anndy Lian, author and intergovernmental blockchain expert.
“Bitcoin’s reserve status signals trust in its scarcity and resilience,” Lian told Cointelegraph, adding:
“What’s fascinating is the timing. Fifty feels symbolic — half a century of life, mirrored by Bitcoin’s journey from a white paper to a trillion-dollar asset. Nakamoto’s vision of trustless, peer-to-peer money has outgrown its cypherpunk roots, entering the halls of power.”
However, lingering questions about Nakamoto remain unanswered, including whether they still hold the keys to their wallet, which is “a fortune now tied to US policy,” Lian said.
Related: Bitcoin’s next catalyst: End of $36T US debt ceiling suspension
Is Satoshi Nakamoto wealthier than Bill Gates?
In February, Arkham Intelligence published findings that attribute 1.096 million BTC — then valued at more than $108 billion — to Nakamoto. That would place him above Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on the global wealth rankings, according to data shared by Coinbase director Conor Grogan.
Satoshi’s new addresses. Source: Conor Grogan
If accurate, this would make Nakamoto the world’s 16th richest person.
Despite the growing interest in Nakamoto’s identity and holdings, his early decision to remain anonymous and inactive has helped preserve Bitcoin’s decentralized ethos — a principle that continues to define the cryptocurrency to this day.
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The United States stock market lost more in value over the April 4 trading day than the entire cryptocurrency market is worth, as fears over US President Donald Trump’s tariffs continue to ramp up.
On April 4, the US stock market lost $3.25 trillion — around $570 billion more than the entire crypto market’s $2.68 trillion valuation at the time of publication.
Nasdaq 100 is now “in a bear market”
Among the Magnificent-7 stocks, Tesla (TSLA) led the losses on the day with a 10.42% drop, followed by Nvidia (NVDA) down 7.36% and Apple (AAPL) falling 7.29%, according to TradingView data.
The significant decline across the board signals that the Nasdaq 100 is now “in a bear market” after falling 6% across the trading day, trading resource account The Kobeissi Letter said in an April 4 X post. This is the largest daily decline since March 16, 2020.
“US stocks have now erased a massive -$11 TRILLION since February 19 with recession odds ABOVE 60%,” it added. The Kobessi Letter said Trump’s April 2 tariff announcement was “historic” and if the tariffs continue, a recession will be “impossible to avoid.”
Source: Anthony Scaramucci
On April 2, Trump signed an executive order establishing reciprocal tariffs on trading partners and a 10% baseline tariff on all imports from all countries.
Trump said the reciprocal tariffs will be roughly half the rate US trading partners impose on American goods.
Related: Bitcoin bulls defend $80K support as ‘World War 3 of trade wars’ crushes US stocks
Meanwhile, the crypto industry has pointed out that while the stock market continues to decline, Bitcoin (BTC) remains stronger than most expected.
Crypto trader Plan Markus pointed out in an April 4 X post that while the entire stock market “is tanking,” Bitcoin is holding.
Source: Jeff Dorman
Even some crypto skeptics have pointed out the contrast between Bitcoin’s performance and the US stock market during the recent period of macro uncertainty.
Stock market commentator Dividend Hero told his 203,200 X followers that he has “hated on Bitcoin in the past, but seeing it not tank while the stock market does is very interesting to me.”
Meanwhile, technical trader Urkel said Bitcoin “doesn’t appear to care one bit about tariff wars and markets tanking.” Bitcoin is trading at $83,749 at the time of publication, down 0.16% over the past seven days, according to CoinMarketCap data.
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