Not for the squeamish

Virtually every man I've met in Indonesia smokes like a train; most of the time cigarettes with a not unpleasant aroma of cloves. Whenever I smell anything like it it transports me to Indonesia and it's perhaps unfortunate for Indonesia's health authorities that the smell of most cigarettes here doesn't seem to bother non-smokers at all. This prevalence of smoking is despite the graphic and gruesome packaging - much more hard-hitting than what is unleashed on the British public.

My colleague said they were planning to raise the cost of a packet from around 20,000 to 50,000 rupiah, about 2 to 5 dollars - an incredible hike. It'll be interesting what impacts that leads to: likely a busy underground cigarette trade as lots of people couldn't smoke at the rate they currently do and afford it at that price.