Well, yes, dearer beer. It's up 1p a pint, so if you drink 100 pints a month it will cost you a pound. Petrol has gone up 2p a litre, or roughly 2%. That will vary a lot by household, but we spend around £100 a month, so that's another £2. In any case the change in petrol price is well within the normal fluctuations over the past few years. So for us the total tax hike is probably £2.50 a month at most.

In short, however much people get worked up about these tax rises (and I accept it may be different for smokers), the effect is minute compared with council tax changes, electricity, gas, food price rises ...