AS Gordon Brown points out (Echo, Nov 12), we have compassion towards children. Yet the prospect of a growing proportion of the able-bodied relying upon state hand-outs appeals to few except those who, like Mr Brown, would see themselves play leading roles in such a state.

Some present the problem as being one of people having children that they can’t afford.

I prefer to recast the problem as being one of such women having their children by the wrong man.

We need the imagination to create an adequate supply of financially eligible men. This can be done by dropping the one-to-one requirement.

We would no longer push our ideal of monogamy to the extreme of saying that the resources of a rich man should be monopolised by one woman and her children.

Instead we would regard a wealthy man as more socially responsible and successful if he has fathered the children of multiple women.

John Riseley, Harrogate