SIR: With regard to the outpouring of letters requesting a ban on smoking in the Market Place, may I say that I'd like to make smoking compulsory in these places.
As a smoker, I'm sick and tired of paying extortionate amounts of tobacco duty (towards keeping the NHS operating) only to be looked down on by non-smokers who probably resent paying 10p for a box of matches, never mind £3 for a packet of fags.
It is the smokers (and drinkers) in this country who contribute the greatest to government revenue. How about a similar tax on non-smokers and maybe then we can get enough revenue to pay for a decent NHS and education service?
And before the witchhunters start going on about passive smoking (for it is becoming a witch-hunt) then maybe I should point out that a recent report by the World Health Organisation could not find any link between passive smoking and the health hazards the anti-smoking lobby always claim.
Alec Martin
Breightmet Drive
Bolton
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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