Wider smoking ban a sign of nanny state becoming a bully

I do not have a problem with having a ban on smoking at or near play-parks designed for the sole use of children or perhaps vehicles that are carrying children.

I would have a serious problem with someone who came and told me that I could not smoke within the privacy of my own vehicle and even more so if I was not driving it at the time.

I am unable to see what harm having a cigarette in a large open space such as a beach or open park is liable to cause anyone other than the person smoking it.

If there are concerns over the dropping of cigarette butts then there is already legislation to deal with this.

I always thought that we had the freedom to choose in the United Kingdom, but it seems that our freedoms are slowly being eroded day by day.

Unless the people start to take a stand at this sort of nonsense then I see the UK becoming run like a tinpot dictatorship.

Mr Alastair Macintyre, Webster Place, Rosyth, Fife

Bad news awaits Labour leaflet MP

I RECENTLY received a letter from Edinburgh North and Leith MP Mark Lazarowicz which implies that the forthcoming election is a choice between a Labour Government or a Tory one. This is misleading and constitutionally illiterate.

It is misleading because, as he knows, the Liberal Democrats are very close behind Labour in his constituency, whereas the Tories have come third or fourth in every election here for 23 years.

It is illiterate because our voting system does not allow anyone to choose a government. However, it does allow everyone to remove a local MP who is not up to the job, which Mr Lazarowicz will surely discover for himself in the early hours of 7 May.

Derek Young, Sandport, Edinburgh

Is Alex having his cake and eating it?

ALEX Salmond is right to point to the real-terms cut in the Scottish budget thanks to the Chancellor's statement this week. Labour's argument that the money has simply been spent more quickly will come as little comfort to the people kept in a job last year thanks to accelerated spending who now face redundancy.

However, the First Minister is trying to have it both ways. Just as he argues forcibly that less money in real terms year-on-year is a cut, his Housing Minister Alex Neil and Finance Secretary John Swinney are saying the exact opposite to housing leaders arguing against a 200 million cut in the housing investment budget next year.

Are we to assume that Alex Salmond has not persuaded his key Ministers of his argument, or is he trying to have his cake and eat it at the same time?

George White, Upper Grove Place, Edinburgh

Ceremonies not in spirit of city motto

I HAVE no wish to upset or denigrate any of the persons involved, but I question the encouragement you gave (News, 23 March) to weddings conducted by Humanists.

They may be legal, but according to their internet site Humanists profess to be atheists; they do not believe in God and have no hope of a future life. According to the Bible, marriage was instituted by God, and was graced by Jesus who attended a marriage in Cana of Galilee. God gives full assurance of eternal life to Christians through faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God.

May I compliment the News on the many good causes you institute and support in and for the city of Edinburgh. Readers will be well aware of the city's motto, Nisi Dominus Frustra, which is a contraction of the opening verses of Psalm 127: "except the Lord build the house ... it is in vain; except the Lord keep the city ... it is in vain". I do not for a moment suggest that atheists would not support your good causes, but obviously they cannot do so in the spirit of Edinburgh's motto, which dates from 1647. Citizens should take pride in it.

Donald Jack, Summerside Place, Leith