The government said it was intending to begin a consultation on plain packaging by the end of this year.

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So we could end up with just a plain aluminium (or aluminium heavy alloy).

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And meanwhile, other nations are stepping up -- a fact that was plain to see when I visited Asia at the end of last year.

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The government is also due to begin a public consultation before the end of the year on whether to introduce plain packaging for cigarettes in order to lessen their marketing appeal to young people, help make health warnings more effective and help reduce the number of smokers.

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Inside, the second-floor space is gleaming with top-end espresso machinery and brewing equipment, and a plain communal table surrounded by coffee drinkers commands the centre of the room.

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Metal detectors will be positioned at the end of the gangplank, while sniffer dogs and uniformed and plain clothes policemen will stand guard.

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These so-called end user licence agreements (EULAs) should be expressed in "plain, intelligible language", they say.

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They spawn at the end of the dry season, so that the coming floods can carry the fry to the flood-plain.

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