The benefit of smoking

As an ex-smoker who is aware of the downside, I would like to acknowledge the chief benefit of smoking, which is to draw people together.

any have claimed it is antisocial, but the reverse is true. People gather together to enjoy one another's company, having a smoke and passing them round, especially before hypocritical politicians tried to tax them from the planet. They still do, but sadly now only in the privacy of their own homes.

Why can't pubs and clubs have good old fashioned smoke rooms re-introduced instead of sending people outside, especially in our cold, damp climate. I wonder if the lives saved from smoking will equal those who develop bronchial complaints and die.

I have never used a bingo hall, though many thousands did. Apparently the smoking ban has so affected this social entertainment that it is dying on its feet. The same is true for thousands of pubs and clubs. I wonder if some of those who frequent them miss the company and banter of their old friends as they sit in their morose solitude, unable to comprehend the death knell of their once vibrant social paradise.

Smokers are the most social of creatures, succouring comfort from their smoke and the company of others. Smokers are now vilified by motorists, for example, who pollute and kill ten times as many people than smokers.

My plea is for some moderation that allows us all to live as we choose. Would those who oppose the introduction of smoking rooms please write and let us know who they are, so their lives can but put under the microscope to evaluate their green credentials.

Cllr John Rochelle, Aldridge Central and South Ward, Walsall MBC.