IF I walked into my local supermarket, took money from the till and gave it to a neighbour to pay off his gambling debts, I would be put in prison.

Somebody will soon walk into Britain and take £3bn to give to a neighbour to help pay their debts. I wonder if they will be put in prison?

I refer, of course, to the imminent EU bail-out of Portugal, yet another country unable to meet its commitments due to the fact that it was dragooned into joining an unsustainable financial intuition – the euro.

Is this a dangerous precedent?

Does this mean that we now have no legal standing if our tennis club takes our money without permission?

It’s not as if we are part of the eurozone in any case.

Our Government, seemingly keen to stand up to dictators on a world-wide scale, will do nothing.

It is time our Government learnt to say no.

Graham Bull, Darlington.