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25-08-10, 08:54 AM

Just read this small piece from the The Mail, and from my own experience ( homeless and jobless for a short while ), I must say I totally agree with Mr Hitchens. In Warrington we have quite a large number of people who beg on the streets and the majority of them live in the Salvation army shelter ( which is huge and a place I have slept in ) and receive income support. One particular chap outside Asda yesterday, was smoking a cig and drinking something brown out of a clear bottle, at the same time begging for money.

Quote from Peter Hitchens: " Few things are more wicked than the sort of begging we see so much of today – men who are fit to work, raising money for drugs. They are not helpless casualties.One of them once rose from his grubby blankets, abandoned his miserable dog and violently assaulted me, after I suggested that he was abusing the charity of others.

Once my black eye had gone down, I tended to think he had proved my point. These deceivers are taking advantage of good-heartedness, and in the end poisoning the whole idea of charity.

I was taught from an early age that I shouldn’t turn my face away from any poor man.

That’s easy enough in the suburban subways of Moscow, where shrivelled grannies hold out their hands for a few roubles, or on the streets of Bombay where the filthy children clamour for coins.
But can it possibly be justified here in Britain, where authority has so much of our money that it pays for disabled people to visit prostitutes and feeds and houses those who claim that they can’t stop taking heroin, when the truth is that they take it because they like it, and laugh at us for letting them sponge on us?

Is there really anyone in Britain who needs to beg?
I suppose it’s possible that an honest person, prepared to work and free of drugs, can end up destitute on the street, thanks to some mad bureaucratic Catch-22.

But my guess is that those who really need our spare change are the lonely old, dying slowly and silently in chilly homes, far too proud to ask anyone for help.

As for the rest, I think we all owe some thanks to the police in the fine city of Lincoln, who have kept a close eye on their beggars and found that many are fakes, and some are ‘threatening and intimidating’.

One in particular – who is not homeless – regularly makes more than £50 a day. I’ll bet that many of those who give to this particular crook are themselves on tiny incomes.
This isn’t a new problem. In the Sherlock Holmes story The Man With The Twisted Lip, written more than a century ago, a professional young man discovers he can make far more as a fake beggar than he can in his ordinary job.

But it is a much worse problem now, and I think the only thing to do is to refuse all the pleas of beggars, and give the money you would have paid them to an effective, realistic charity such as the Salvation Army.

But I advise you not to bother explaining, or you too could get a black eye." Unquote.

Ste.

25-08-10, 08:54 AM	#1
slark01 Guest Posts: n/a	Beggars. Just read this small piece from the The Mail, and from my own experience ( homeless and jobless for a short while ), I must say I totally agree with Mr Hitchens. In Warrington we have quite a large number of people who beg on the streets and the majority of them live in the Salvation army shelter ( which is huge and a place I have slept in ) and receive income support. One particular chap outside Asda yesterday, was smoking a cig and drinking something brown out of a clear bottle, at the same time begging for money. Quote from Peter Hitchens: " Few things are more wicked than the sort of begging we see so much of today – men who are fit to work, raising money for drugs. They are not helpless casualties.One of them once rose from his grubby blankets, abandoned his miserable dog and violently assaulted me, after I suggested that he was abusing the charity of others. Once my black eye had gone down, I tended to think he had proved my point. These deceivers are taking advantage of good-heartedness, and in the end poisoning the whole idea of charity. I was taught from an early age that I shouldn’t turn my face away from any poor man. That’s easy enough in the suburban subways of Moscow, where shrivelled grannies hold out their hands for a few roubles, or on the streets of Bombay where the filthy children clamour for coins. But can it possibly be justified here in Britain, where authority has so much of our money that it pays for disabled people to visit prostitutes and feeds and houses those who claim that they can’t stop taking heroin, when the truth is that they take it because they like it, and laugh at us for letting them sponge on us? Is there really anyone in Britain who needs to beg? I suppose it’s possible that an honest person, prepared to work and free of drugs, can end up destitute on the street, thanks to some mad bureaucratic Catch-22. But my guess is that those who really need our spare change are the lonely old, dying slowly and silently in chilly homes, far too proud to ask anyone for help. As for the rest, I think we all owe some thanks to the police in the fine city of Lincoln, who have kept a close eye on their beggars and found that many are fakes, and some are ‘threatening and intimidating’. One in particular – who is not homeless – regularly makes more than £50 a day. I’ll bet that many of those who give to this particular crook are themselves on tiny incomes. This isn’t a new problem. In the Sherlock Holmes story The Man With The Twisted Lip, written more than a century ago, a professional young man discovers he can make far more as a fake beggar than he can in his ordinary job. But it is a much worse problem now, and I think the only thing to do is to refuse all the pleas of beggars, and give the money you would have paid them to an effective, realistic charity such as the Salvation Army. But I advise you not to bother explaining, or you too could get a black eye." Unquote. Ste.