MADAM - To read of Ebola victims being turned away from hospitals, being sent back home where they will inevitably infect others, fills me with sadness and horror.

This is happening because the healthcare systems in countries like Sierra Leone, pitifully inadequate to start with, have been completely overwhelmed by this disease.

A large number of that country’s courageous health workers have themselves succumbed to the disease, dying a terrible death.

In this context I read with disgust that Ukip’s policy is to cut our overseas aid budget, using the proceeds to cut taxes for British people on middle incomes (co-incidentally, some of their core voters).

Ukip is keen not be seen as racist, but how can this be seen in any other light?

My own view is that the world would be a better place if we stopped focussing so hard on our own interests and started seeing ourselves as part of one human race.

The overseas aid budget does no more than redress some wrongs that we ourselves have visited on Africa, with our legacies of colonial rule and unequal trade relations.

Recognising that even the poorest in our country are fortunate in comparison to those caught up in the horror playing out in West Africa, we need to offer them more help, not less.

Chris Owen

Ruscombe