Let's give this government credit for its media relations. We all remember the spin doctor who chose "the right day" to bury bad news back in September 2001. But choosing Easter Monday to propose a ban on in-store tobacco displays was smart.

With front page coverage in the nationals, and big exposure on News at Ten, the 'Dawn Raid' by public health minister Dawn Primarolo picked the perfect slow news day.

It was perfect not just because it faced such little competition for space, but because newspapers and TV stations were either so depleted, or their journalists so full of chocolate, the government's proposals were reported unchallenged, without any attempt to critique the rationale or assess the impact.

We all know smoking can be bad for you. But so can gambling and boozing and other legal pastimes. Selling cigarettes below the counter is tantamount to a restriction on trade. But in driving tobacco sales below the counter it gives a legitimate product the feel of an illegitimate one. As a result, it becomes very hard for consumers to distinguish between illegal, counterfeit cigarettes sold from industrial estates and ice cream vans, from legitimate products sold in responsible outlets.

The cost to retailers could be catastrophic (30% of CTNs in Iceland went out of business after it introduced a similar ban). And the government could face a tax shortfall as big as the bill from Northern Rock - and face it every year.

But the most galling aspect of this proposal is the negligible impact it is expected to have on cigarette consumption. With the ink barely dry on new laws to limit cigarette sales to the over-18s, why is this trigger-happy government already drafting the next?