LIKE most people in this country I have made a donation towards the Asian disaster relief fund. However, I don't find this a cause for pride.

It is our duty to help fellow humans, and this duty is one that should not end here but carry on with further help and ideas that make a difference.

Rather than pride I feel this is a time for shame. As a Christmas disaster the response from the West should have been far swifter. Instead we had leaders like Tony Blair content to see out their holidays while muttering platitudes about actions speaking louder than words. What actions?

Does he mean the way that most victims were without help for over a week? Or is it the way that British nationals were left to their own devices while vainly trying to summon help from local embassies?

The fact is that, armed with no more than the yellow pages, a telephone and the necessary cash I could have handled this crisis far better than most governments.

In this day and age we should have seen aid on the ground within 24 hours.

The irony is that had this been some major military threat, action would have been much swifter. In these circumstances I see no reason for pride, but a growing shame that this is the way the planet is administrated.

Shame that our elected representatives place the destruction of life above that of relieving suffering.

Harry Hinde. Lancaster.