IT took the Christmas shopping expeditions to awaken me to the wretched plight of some of our population - the pyjama sloth'.

I was first alerted to this phenomenon while working in Liverpool a couple of years ago. Consisting mainly of young women, I would see them queuing for their money outside the local post office wearing nothing but their pyjamas.

Now, I have spotted the sloth(s)' at various Wirral locations - Liscard precinct, Grange precinct etc, usually exhaling smoke into the front of a pushchair!

While at Bromborough Retail Park, I saw the best example yet of this unusual trait. At the side of Tesco's, I observed three of them in a smoke-filled huddle - two women and the first bloke I had seen, complete with dressing-gown!

Can we not help these poor unfortunates? Think of the effort involved for them to actually get dressed like the rest of us. These people need 16 hours sleep each day and yet still have to go out for essentials like cigarettes, booze and New Year Sales!

Couldn't we get together a volunteer group who could take their personal orders and do deliveries? This would enable them to stay in bed all day - perfect!

R. Fisher(address supplied)