Sir, Kenneth Parsons states that 2 per cent (250,000 people) of benefit “customers” receive benefits by giro cheque (letter, Mar 7). The truly scary information is that this implies that 12.5 million people rely on benefits. This equates to approximately one fifth of the population. How has the country got into this state where such a large proportion of the population require assistance by the Government, or to put it another way, by the remaining citizens of the country?
Martin Cooper
Bath