Friends in Central Asia write: While on home assignment we were struck by how rapidly things are changing in Britain, in particular how wealthy people seem to be, how much waste there is and how much time can be spent on trivia.

Scarcely had we arrived back in Central Asia when the contrast was brought home to us. Many people in our town had gone bankrupt. They had hoped to make a fortune by buying potatoes in the autumn at 6p a kilo, in the hope of the price doubling to 12p a kilo in the spring. A few who owned cars had sold them to buy potatoes; some people had even mortgaged their houses.

Unfortunately, instead of the price rising, it dropped from 6p to 1.5p a kilo, with some potatoes selling for as little as 0.5p a kilo. We were horrified to hear that a few people, having lost everything, had committed suicide, whilst sacks of useless potatoes have been left at the roadside to rot.

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