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.

Exactly why I ignore the beggars in my town I have to walk past every lunchtime when I go to the bank for work. They're often drinking alcohol and I know it'll only be wasted on that!

[keith_d]

How about buying the Big Issue instead of giving to beggars. Most of the sellers are trying to work themselves out of homelessness, and any profits made by the printing business go straight into their charity work.

Keith.

P.S. I have on occasion offered to buy beggars a sandwich for lunch, surprising how many turn that offer down!

I'm not going to give any of my hard earned cash to some begger so he can spend it on booze, fags and drugs.....I can spend it on that.

Originally Posted by keith_d

How about buying the Big Issue instead of giving to beggars. Most of the sellers are trying to work themselves out of homelessness, and any profits made by the printing business go straight into their charity work.

Keith.

There is a chap on Sankey street nearly everyday selling the Big Issue. I finally bought one last christmas, only because I was feeling charitable at the time. Usually I don't bother, but thats only because I usually don't buy papers or magazines.

Ste

[timwilky]

I have a lot of respect for the salvation army, they do a job I was not prepared to do.

My father in law was a hopeless alcoholic. He set fire to his council flat whilst drunk and ended up a homeless pensioner. Non of his family would house him. When he stayed with us he soiled the bed, put his cigarettes out on the bedroom carpet and vomited after drinking run/black onto the suite. Fortunately the Salvation Army in Salford took him in. He had his own room and could come/go as he pleased. They all deserve a medal putting up with him. I do give to them, but by monthly bank transfer. Would I give to anyone on the street. No, but I might buy them a cup of tea.

[Bri w]

I give to beggars but not all. And no doubt in doing so I give some money to con artists, fakes and support those who spend it on drugs.

The only judgement I make is an unskilled "do they look genuine?" I'd rather not assume a cynical view that none of them need help, and they're all robbing scum. And at the end of the day I just may make a difference to someone who really needs help.

"There but for the grace of God, and do unto others."

I don't buy the big issue. I have a couple of the guys in my town walking around drinking special brew and coming out of William Hill. In my view, those two have killed it from my point of view for the majority of people who are selling the big issue and trying to help themselves.

Originally Posted by keith_d

How about buying the Big Issue instead of giving to beggars. Most of the sellers are trying to work themselves out of homelessness, and any profits made by the printing business go straight into their charity work.

Absolutely agree with this.

As an aside, there was one well-known local BI seller who was found dead in his flat (of natural causes) a few years ago. Seems that he'd been so good at his job (polite, not pushy, etc) that people had given generously. The Police found about £15k in cash and a notebook called "****'s house deposit book" and he'd kept a complete record of his daily income and outgoings just in case someone asked.

[maviczap]

I read or heard somewhere, that beggars who work on a 'Good patch' can earn as much as £250 in a day?

Not sure if its true, but since then I don't bother to give any money, nor do I buy the big issue

Its the same in Europe, with beggars asking for money outside main railway stations to fund their drink & drug habit. So I won't give to them I'm afraid

Same in Liverpool, when I'm out on the town, constantly getting asked 'Got any change' in a Scouse accent by normal lads trying to get their taxi fare home. **** Off