Brigand Freedom?
SIR,-Quoodle calls the Tories' addendum to the I-, CC recommendation to ban smoking in cinemas the best comment on this ludicrous piece of fussi- ness.' It is not. Smoking on the principal floor of County Hall is not the same as smoking in the stalls of most cinemas in London: for one thing, non-smokers can get away from the smoke. For another, films are not being projected on to a screen that during actual cleaning is often found to be Coated with nicotine. For a third good reason, County Hall's ventilating system is probably more 11P-to-date than many cinemas', even in the West End.
Smoking bans arc no doubt thought by Quoodle to deprive people of freedom—but what about my freedom to breathe air that has no smoke in it? Freedom to smoke is one of the brigand freedoms—
like freedom to play radios in the parks, or freedom to empty chamber-pots out of upstairs windows in an earlier age. I am not one of those who believe that smoking should be permitted only between consenting adults in private—but it should cer- tainly not be forced on other parties whether they like it or not, as in cinemas and aircraft and all other places where there is a captive audience and no non-smoking compartments. Incidentally, I agree with Quoodle: the Socialists should stop the sale of cigarettes in County Hall restaurants.
ALEXANDER WALKER
Flat 31, Stuart Tower, 105 Maida Vale, W9
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