In the wake of the current floods, the chairman of the Environment Agency, Lord Smith of Finsbury, says that the country must make a choice whether to save town or country.

He then goes on to say that there is no bottomless purse to build further flood defences.

It seems strange that there always seems to be a bottomless pit for providing foreign aid to countries abroad, some of whom are better off than us, ie India, and some who we are at diplomatic loggerheads with, ie Argentina.

I am sure that the people in the West Country who have been flooded out since before Christmas would rather see some of this money used to give them relief now and in the future instead of finding its way into the pockets of despots and dictators who have no intention of using the money for the purpose it was intended.

Mr Cameron may be building up his reputation abroad but, at home, it is declining rapidly, faster than the flood waters.

AP Cox, Heath Close, Holgate, York.