18 FEBRUARY 2006, Page 79

Q. I live in a (comparatively) grand house in Kensington.

Every so often there is a knock at the door and I will find someone standing there collecting money for charity, or saying they are selling something in order to raise their self-esteem as they have just come out of prison. I don’t want to deal with these people. I already give a lot of money to charity but when I say this they always try to engage me in conversation, asking which charity, etc. How should I gracefully get rid of them without depleting their ‘self-esteem’?

A.C., W8 A. See them off pleasantly by saying, ‘I’m afraid my boss works nights, so he is asleep at the moment. I’m just cleaning up here.’