SIR - I was very interested in John Hinton's letter concerning smoking, (Letters, June 13).

I too, am an ex-imbiber of the pernicious evil weed who saw the light. The fact is that in the armed forces people were positively encouraged to smoke. In the Second World War days, the customary opening remark of an officer addressing other ranks was: "Carry on smoking."

Ideally, tobacco should be a banned substance. Alas, the tobacco companies are far too rich and powerful for that to happen.

Furthermore, any move in such a direction would bring complaints of the nanny state and interference with personal freedom from the usual suspects. What nonsense.

I wish someone had nannied me and interfered with my freedom to ruin my own health and probably the health of a relation in close proximity to me. As a result of my awful relationship with the weed I now have angina, valvular disease of the heart, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, enfeebled kidneys and a few other maladies.

People talk of the importance of freedom but, in my view, freedom cannot be really enjoyed unless one has reasonably good health. Health comes before freedom.

Millions have died from smoking and from taking in others' damnable smoky emissions. The freedom to smoke didn't do them much good.

D E MARGRETT, Worcester.