Bradford-born artist David Hockney has once more tangled with health chiefs over the pending smoking ban.

Writing for a national newspaper this week, Mr Hockney launched a broadside against what he described as "a grotesque piece of social engineering."

He said: "They think it will lead to healthier people and a cleaner atmosphere. They believe they can change people easily.

"The science of marketing has been absorbed by them and they think they can control everybody. I don't think they can. People will stay at home and do drugs instead - legal and illegal."

He also argued that there were positive aspects to smoking.

"I smoke for my mental health," he said. "I think its good for it, and I certainly prefer its calming effects to the pharmaceutical ones (side effects unknown)."

Hockney concedes that smoking has dreadful side effects on some people, but cites the apparently contrary examples.

He said: "We should ask the British Medical Association to explain Denis Thatcher smoking senior service (unfiltered) and dying at 88, or Kurt Vonnegut living till 84 after smoking Pall Mall cigarettes for 70 years. What is the explanation? Nobody seems to ask and no-one gives any explanation."

He described those introducing the ban as "the mean spirited and dreary people who seem to have taken over England."

Concluding by saying: "I can't be the only voice like this. In England people should speak up more, defend themselves, but its hard against all the forces at work. Two million anti-smoking signs are going up on July 1, including inside Westminster Abbey. The uglification of England is under way by people with no vision. I detest it."

But Madge Boyle, of Bradford and Airedale Teaching Primary Care Trust, said: "The smoke free law is one of the most important pieces of public health legislation in the past 50 years and will go along way in helping us to make the Bradford and Airedale district a healthier place to live, learn and work.

"It is not about people choosing to smoke in their own private space; the law is to protect people in enclosed public spaces from the danger of second-hand smoke and to guarantee their right to a smoke-free environment.

"There is no safe level of exposure to second-hand smoke. It has short and long-term effects and there is evidence that people who work in smoky atmospheres get more colds, may develop chest infections or bronchitis, and other illnesses can linger longer."