I AM very excited about the government's plans to ban smoking in public places. I am sick of going out and being forced to breathe in someone else's smoke. Plus it could kill me.

Smokers are free to do whatever they want to themselves. They are not free to do whatever they want to me.

For the record, I never go to pubs but I would go if they were smoke free.

I do not believe that pubs will go out of business if smoking is banned. There are smoking bans in Canada, New York, Ireland, Australia, Norway, Italy and many other countries. Even Vietnam and Uganda!

People still go to bars in those countries. Smokers still go to the cinema, the theatre and on aeroplanes, despite the fact that smoking is not allowed.

It is time for the government to recognise that non-smokers have rights too.

KATE ALLEY, (via e-mail).