The only way ahead is to ensure the power to choose is maintained for all parties involved in the debate. A licensing system should be introduced. Businesses would have to apply for a smoking licence and show clearly whether they are smoking or non-smoking establishments. If a non-smoker does not wish to drink or eat in an area they know is a smoking zone, they can make that choice.

If a smoker, similarly, wants to smoke while having a drink, they too can make that choice. Equally, staff can choose which establishments they wish to work in, and business owners can choose to adopt whichever category they believe will least harm their business. Rather than decreeing what people do with their own bodies, such a system would be truly consultative and would treat adults with minds of their own as such.

Jamie McKinnell, Wan Chai

Q Should banks automatically compensate victims of online fraud?

People have been breaking into houses for millennia and there is an effective safety net - insurance.

Sensible people take out insurance so the unlucky few share the cost with many others. However, Net banking is a very new phenomenon and, as always, human ingenuity will rapidly come up with ways to benefit illicitly from the system at a painful cost to others. As yet we have no safety net for these people, but I think we need one urgently. At present there is no insurance, so the banks feel obliged to compensate these people, and fair enough too.

Why? Because if you provide a service, you are obliged to ensure that it doesn't put ordinary people at risk of unexpected loss, either through providing adequate security (which, to their credit, the banks are working very hard on) or a system of compensation.

I think it's grossly unfair to attribute losses to customer carelessness; obviously with some exceptions, they have fallen prey to clever, sophisticated and intricate schemes.

David Coyle, Sheung Shui

Q Will the KCR extension change your travel habits?

The new extension will definitely change my travel habits. In the past, if I wanted to go to Central, I had to take the KCR to Kowloon Tong and then travel on the MTR Kwun Tong line until I reached Mongkok, where I would change for the Tsuen Wan line to go to Central.

Travelling on the new KCR extension, although I have to walk along a fairly long subway between the Tsim Sha Tsui East KCR station and Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station, I can save much time waiting for trains.

However, during peak hour, it may be difficult to go down to the platform of the Tsim Sha Tsui station because there are only a few electronic gates for passengers from entrance G, which is linked to the Tsim Sha Tsui East station, to get into the station.

If I am to go to the west of Hong Kong Island, I will choose to go via the new extension. However, if I want to go to the east of Hong Kong Island, the story will be different. I will still take the MTR at Kowloon Tong because there will be fewer passengers travelling on the Kwun Tong line than the Tsuen Wan line, so it will be a lot more comfortable. In terms of comfort and time, it will be a good choice for New Territories residents to travel on the new KCR extension.

Fong Hau Chun, Tai Po

On other matters...

Yesterday an ambulance came along Hysan Avenue, just in front of Lee Gardens, with flashing patrol lights and siren blowing in an obvious emergency. But then the employee shuttle bus from Manulife bullied its way in front of the ambulance.

The ambulance had to brake to an emergency stop to avoid hitting the minibus and could only continue after a minute's delay. If the patient in the ambulance was in a critical condition, this minute may have ended his or her life. I consider the behaviour of the Manulife driver reckless and ruthless. Is this the public image of a health insurance company?

Do you want patients to die from their heart attack before they reach the hospital?

Alexander Kurz, Causeway Bay

In an article on Wednesday, you gave a breakdown of the Kcal, fat, protein and carbohydrates in several McDonald meals and conclude they are still fattening. I agree with that, but would like to point out to readers that this diagram does not really mean much in the bigger picture for someone wanting to lose weight.

What one should try to prevent is mixing carbohydrates with fats and only eat good carbohydrates and good fats. When you do mix carbohydrates with fats, only mix the good ones of both. By doing so you will lose weight easily, as your blood sugar level does not go up dramatically so you do not make excessive insulin, the item needed to store fat.

It would be better to eat a Caesar salad without croutons and with a fatty Caesar salad sauce, as this will contain hardly any carbohydrates, a good portion of fat and quite a few calories. Because it won't increase your sugar level too much, the fat cannot be stored in the body.

Jeffry Kuperus, Clear Water Bay