IN reply to David James’s letter, “Smokers not the only victims” (March 3), my original comments about smoking that he was refering to were on the economics of the ban, not passive smoking, which another reader of The Bolton News, Mrs M Dunlop (March 7), has already commented on, which I hope Mr James did read.

My concern with Mr James’s comments is his and other non-smokers’ draconian attitude to smokers, while they, in turn, drive around our roads emitting more harmful fumes from their car exhausts than smokers ever could.

So, the next time you are out in your car, Mr James — presuming you do drive — and you pass someone on the road, i.e. pedestrians or someone stood outside a pub having a smoke, think of all the fumes they are inhaling as you drive by.

We are all to blame, we motorists, but we live in a democratic society — freedom of choice should never become a radical idea.

I don’t know who penned the saying, “A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves”, but we are not there yet, thank God. That’s why we can air our views through our local newspapers.

Anyway, on a lighter note, if smoking is bad for you, how come it cures kippers!

D Wrennall, Eldon Street, Tonge Moor