Reader's Letter Of The Day

From The Metro:

It is good to see the government has decided to make cigarettes and under-the-counter item in shops. I'm quite confident that removing them will cut their appeal and destroy the market for them; after all, look at how effective it has been at eliminating the drugs culture in this country.

On the other hand, isn't this proposition that antithesis of the government's stance that removing books from view, by closing all the libraries, will not reduce reading?

Beyond this, I think the government is unwise to contemplate the idea of only allowing the sale of cigarettes in unmarked, unbranded boxes. Surely this would only serve to make the smuggling and selling of counterfeit cigarettes, already a major problem, even simpler.

Not only would this remove a revenue stream from HMRC, but it would also increase the funding sources for criminal and terrorist organisations.

Julian Self, Buckinghamshire.