SIR - Your mean spirited correspondent, D Hodgson’s comments and added economics lecture (T&A, December 11) contained the reddest of herrings that were neither persuasive nor factually accurate.

How does GDP per capita, UK £25,000/India £1,000, make India richer? The correlation between the aid he says Britain has given to India and the cost of the airport in Delhi is fanciful, but, in this age of “Trade for Aid”, the terminal was designed by a London architect, HOK International; Brintons supplied 170,000 square metres of carpeting; there is more than a hint of M&S in the duty free and Britain is the largest European investor in India.

But all this is designed to distract and aid is not all about India. Of course the British people do not want aid to be squandered. There are reputable charities that can see to this.

To deny help to the victims of famine, natural disasters, health pandemics is inhuman.

As for the UK’s own food poverty, the Conservative led coalition, by redistributing wealth from the poor who spend in the shops of Britain, to the rich who top up their latest ISAs, are more than culpable. Government policy could reverse this, starting today. Charity should begin where it’s needed.

A Waterhouse, Barmby Road, Bradford