No, I think not, much as we would talk in terms of what is the relation of IDA lending to World Bank lending, and not least in view of the Overall Debt Crisis affecting the drought-ridden countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

While there are undoubtedly some individual horror stories about debt - including some particularly tragic ones recently - it would be an exaggeration to infer from them that there is an Overall Debt Crisis in the economy.

What the Minister failed to confirm-I hope he will do so in a moment-was that his noble Friend Baroness Kinnock explained to the House of Lords yesterday that the Foreign Office was cutting its expenditure on counter-terrorism programmes in Pakistan and on anti-narcotics programmes in Afghanistan, not through any reassessment of strategic priorities but because of the movement of exchange rates and the Government's Overall Debt Crisis.