Cheeky comedian Russell Howard has used his BBC comedy show, Russell Howard's Good News, to speak out about the controversial tampon tax in a rant that has now gone viral.
Viewers in their thousands have tuned in to see Howard express disbelief that MPs voted against an amendment to the Finance Bill, which would have scrapped the 5% VAT rate applied to tampons, currently classing them as non-essential, 'luxury' items.
'They're tampons, not Ferrero Rocher!' the comic exclaimed. 'No woman has ever inserted one and gone: "Oh, I am spoiling myself – I feel so decadent!"'
'You pay VAT on tampons because they're a 'luxury'' he explained, 'but you don't pay VAT on things that are considered 'essential'.'
He then went on to list a number of products currently considered 'essential', which include: helicopters, Twiglets, adult nappies, flapjacks, a ticket to the zoo and crocodile meat.
So far, a clip of his impassioned speech has received almost 130,000 likes on Howard's Facebook page and inspired such comments as: 'Russell Howard for PM'.
Want to check it out for yourself? Watch the video below.