I HEARD the refuse lorry this morning. In the corner shops, supermarkets, the tobacco products are hidden like a filthy crime. But not the alcohol, brewed with hops.

But when the refuse lorry tips on our final summer Bank Holiday before Xmas, we hear the 'jackpot' of beer cans and wine bottles rattling through the suburbs of folk having a well-deserved lie-in. But not the faint, cardboard whisper of cigarette packs, silently tumbling like a cat burglar.

Why are smokers condemned so bitterly? The NHS not only suffers the smoking victims, but also the alcoholics, who are far more of a nuisance!

We don't get trouble from smoking louts or binge smokers, so other than smokers sharing their 'bonfires' and being anti-social, I've never had an ashtray spilled in my lap, but dozens of trays of ale have been by untrained waiter/waitress staff.

They ought to have designated smokers and non-smokers' pubs and bars, not this Orwellian "Do as your told" nanny state we have thrust upon us.

ALAN BURRIDGE

Blandford Road, Upton