FOLLOWING the recent disaster in the Indian Ocean it was good to see how quickly the response came from this country.

In next to no time, a load of much needed items was prepared and assembled at Bristol Airport.

What a great pity that a Russian cargo plane had to be chartered to airlift the load to Sri Lanka.

The Royal Air Force had no plane available or big enough to do the job.

This is of course another indication of just what effect the stringent defence expenditure imposed by our Government is having on our Armed Forces.

I hope that Defence Secretary Geoff Hoone and Chancellor Gordon Brown are able to sleep easy in their beds at night.

In reality they should be having nightmares.

R W SELWAY

Stratton St Margaret

Swindon