Madam, - In placing the blame for debt in the developing world entirely on the lenders, with not a word of censure for the illegitimate regimes which actually took out the borrowings, Nessa Ní Chasaide, co-ordinator of Debt and Development Coalition Ireland (June 8th), refers casually to "the members of the undemocratic G8 club".
Other than perhaps Russia, these are not only the most successful big countries on earth in terms of providing the best for their people, but also totally democratic, and these two characteristics are not unrelated.
The more that left-wing groups continue to excuse and tolerate developing world tyrannies, the more the latter will be encouraged to take on debts they will never be able to repay.
Democracy, not debt relief, is what will lift the developing world out of poverty. - Yours, etc,
TONY ALLWRIGHT, Killiney, Co Dublin.