Non-smoking zones outdoors at pubs and restaurants won't work and will turn customers away

Our government wants people to resume eating at restaurants and pubs to save them from going bust, but won’t ban smoking from outdoor dining areas. Instead, they want zones designated as “No Smoking”.

But, given our wonderfully variable weather, restaurants have no hope of guaranteeing these zones will be upwind of smokers. So, which of the 80 per cent of adults who don’t smoke will want to risk getting whiffs of polluted air with their meal? And would more be gained by enticing custom from among this 80 per cent given that, for the other 20 per cent, smoking isn’t essential to dining out.

Ian Reid
Kilnwick, Yorkshire

The government “rules” on smoking outside at pubs and restaurants conclude: “These changes will allow everyone to enjoy outdoor eating and drinking whether they smoke or not.”

Well no, not really if you have a group of smokers say two metres away (or less if not “possible”) wafting their smoke or flavoured vape steam, possibly loaded with virus or bacterial matter, across your meal.

And I can’t help thinking that a ban would discourage more people from smoking, and then where would the tobacco industry be? (And funding to politicians from their lobbyists?).

Peter Cole
Alnwick, Northumberland

I have to agree with Sir Keir Starmer‘s comments (20 July) that this instruction from the government that people should try to return to work from 1 August is placing an intolerable strain on employees and businesses to get up and running in what is essentially an extremely demanding time for parents.

They have been left high and dry, when childcare provisions are at their lowest. As stated, grandparents may not be able to take up the caring slack as in previous times, because of their own important health concerns.

This is a government in a hurry and I appreciate that it is between a rock and a hard place. The prime minister’s assertion that we are perhaps approaching the “end game” of this pandemic is short-sighted and does not take sufficiently into account the valid concerns of the medical advisors.

People are naturally concerned about going back to work and to encourage this is in the height of the summer may prove to be a further economic and health catastrophe waiting to happen.

Judith A Daniels
Great Yarmouth, Norfolk

Dumb motorways

From what I understand about so-called smart motorways, they are anything but smart.

The disruption to the motorways, M4 in my case, seems to dwarf the perceived benefits and the upheaval over the past few years of engineering works. The cost must be astronomical, as is the frustration and travel delay to the motorists.

Will the revamped M4 really be a better road to travel after the “improvements”? There are reports of other smart motorways that cause me to wonder whether they are safer without the hard shoulder that we motorists are used to. I have seen the emergency lay-bys in operation on other smart roads and they are neither deep or long enough. And not to have a continuous emergency facility seems very dangerous to me.

The need for more volume on our roads, especially motorways, is obvious but surely not at the cost of safety.

But, unfortunately, only time will tell. What will it take for the government to see the error of its ways? How many more people will have to be injured, or worse, for changes to be made to this money-saving mistake?

Keith Poole
Basingstoke

I have been wondering why there has not been widespread reporting of the fact that many of the international banks in the City have relocated to Frankfurt, Paris and Dublin. Surely this should be reported to the public as it is another consequence of the referendum result that many members of the public so enthusiastically voted for.

The UK no longer has a strong manufacturing base and the financial sector has been the mainstay of the British economy since the late 1980s. Without it, I really despair for the future. London and the City could become a wasteland, coupled with the lack of live entertainment and tourists.

Leaving Europe and the pandemic is a perfect storm which could set us on a road to ruin. Surely it would have been sensible for the government to put Brexit on the back burner until the consequences of the last few months can be evaluated. The people really should have done their own homework before voting but I suppose that was too much to ask.

Sue Camp
London