I AM one of the so-called smug and snooty anti-smoker brigade to whom S E Ireland has offered a bet to see who can outlive who (Letters, April 12).

However, I do not conform to the image portrayed as I do not possess a 4x4, my husband and I have one family-sized saloon car between us. Unfortunately, we can't walk to work and back every day but if we could, we would! We walk whenever we can, whatever the weather.

Yes, we do like to drink alcohol but our enjoyment is spoilt when selfish smokers hold their cigarettes at an angle away from themselves so that the smoke does not waft over them, it wafts over us!

My parents were both heavy smokers, both died of smoking-related diseases in their 40s, so please don't preach to me that I should not find it offensive to have somebody else's smoke cover my hair, clothes, affect my eyes and all the other associated unpleasantness that goes with it.

When I am drinking alcohol, I am not pouring it down other people's throats and they won't go home reeking of gin. The only liver I am pickling is my own.

Should I like to have a flutter at the casino, I am only gambling away my house and my money, I am not affecting some innocent bystanders' health and comfort.

Yes, people can get aggressive with alcohol and killed by cars but we need transport and alcohol should be treated with care.

I, for one, can't wait until the ban comes into effect and I can then go out for an evening and return home without feeling that I have overdosed on nicotine.

MRS K M HARRISON, Sholing, Southampton.