Tories fret about a nanny state - but with decay all around, voters want politicians who step in | Rafael Behr

The prime minister's anti-smoking crusade is panicking his party, even as it meets with enthusiasm among the public Nicotine is a brilliantly malevolent molecule. It stimulates reward receptors in the brain that light up with satisfaction at a job well done. The addict registers its absence as an agony of incompletion. The next dose bathes the aching brain in a glow of bogus accomplishment. This makes tobacco great business. The customer can't stop coming back for the product. As an ex-smoker, I...