Letter: The pleasures of tobacco

For every person who smoked and died young I can give you other names, especially in my own profession, who didn't: Picasso, Matisse, Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, and a lot more (Letter, 1 February). Are there no doctors who would admit they haven't a clue why this is so? I for one am not sure medicine is a science – human beings are messy and all a little bit different, and I rejoice in that. I will be even more impertinent. I will continue to ask some questions of doctors. Looking around the Leonardo exhibition it occurs to me that they had better eyesight than we do. Flemish painting has also suggested this to me. Could very bright lights cause this? What will gazing at a computer screen all day do to us?

If Mr Chapman is concerned about children, this week's news that 3 million children in the US are on Ritalin, a drug prescribed for attention deficit disorder horrified me. I intend to stick with my far more natural, delicious, pleasure-giving tobacco.
David Hockney
Bridlington, East Yorkshire