Letter: Smoking zealots?

Sir: I have been a smoker since my teenage years, attracted no doubt by the nautical image of Senior Service to net the best dancer at the local palais. In those innocent days the offer of a "fag" usually enjoyed a positive response.

In subsequent middle years the Marxist idiom "There's more to marriage than sex you know. There is always the cigarette in the dark afterwards" (Groucho, not Karl) again enhanced a huffing, puffing relationship.

However, in my autumn years, you will be glad to hear I no longer smoke cigarettes. The odd cigar seems to suffice.

The health warning "smoking causes male sexual impotence" might be more apt if changed to "drinking" and emblazoned on the tankard at the local pub.

B W SMITH

Purley,

Berkshire