WIPING out Third World debt amounting to billions of pounds in the name of compassion may be praiseworthy assuming, of course, any further funding will only be given to reliable organisations for specified projects aimed at eradicating poverty among the underclass.

Appropriate restrictions must certainly be imposed to ensure any funding is not diverted into the coffers of corrupt dictators and their entourage which appears to have been the case in the past.

Having lived most of our lives abroad in the armed services, my husband and I have seen how the poor of the third world live in appalling conditions.

There is no middle class, but a great divide between rich and poor. This must be apparent to all who visit these countries.

Fortunately, the extreme poverty that exists, for instance, in Africa does not exist on this scale in the UK. However, it is difficult to understand how the Government is able to cancel such large outstanding sums in debt relief and yet quibble over restoring the link with earnings for pensioners.

The alternative system, adopted by the Government, of handing out all the extra benefits etc must be proving both costly and difficult to administer at the expense of the over-burdened taxpayer.

Elizabeth C Earle,

Dower Court,

William Plows Avenue, York.

Updated: 10:56 Thursday, July 21, 2005