I RECENTLY visited a pub in Portsmouth. I found two bar staff and two children playing on a slot machine in the lounge bar. I asked about the missing clientele and was told "in the garden''.

I found my relative sitting under a high sided wooden shelter, about 40 other voters of Portsmouth were housed under similar structures, all enjoying a pint and a smoke. I noticed that the shelters were being rigged up with gas heaters, ready for the cold weather.

Is there no end to the punishment of the smoker, just so the do-gooders can have their way?

I went to a wedding reception in Totton (approximately 200 guests). It was the same story, with two thirds of the guests in the car park at the rear of the hall, leaving the old people and the children to listen to the disco inside.

I spoke to the hall manager, who quite understandably found it difficult to handle and provide for these two separate groups of guests.

This daft law is about as well thought out as the invasion of Iraq and has about the same chance of success.

What of these outcasts of the new society - hard working and decent men and women of England?

They are truly the salt of the earth.

And what of me? I am an old man and a non-smoker but I would fight to the last drop of my blood to overthrow this wicked law which seeks to do away with one of our most important freedoms.

JOHN COOK, Bitterne, Southampton.