14 FEBRUARY 2004, Page 30

From Julia Pickles Sir: Andrew Gimson's interview with Lady Trumpington

was as refreshing as a deep drag on a Rothman's accompanied by a glass of vintage champagne. Smokers are hounded with a ferocity that would have been unthinkable in more civilised times. I have attended family parties where I have been forbidden to smoke by horrified hostesses who at the same time were not only plying my 12-year-old with alcopops and champagne, but boasting about their liberal attitude to cannabis.

Julia Pickles

London SW1