Oi! Tony Blair! Beggar Off! (Homelessness and street begging)

Member Name: moronboy

Product:	Homelessness and street begging
Date:	21/11/00 (11 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Giving to beggars gives some respite

Disadvantages: Doesn't solve the problem long-term

My father, who is in general a much nicer, more decent person than I am, has to carry large amounts of change with him whenever he hits a big city, because he finds himself crippled by shame if he cannot give money to homeless people if he passes them, or if they ask him for it. You always know he's been to a city, because he has a new copy of the Big Issue in his house. And some of his more prim friends complain that the money he gives will be spent on drink or drugs. And his answer is always the same - if I were living on the streets, I'd probably be drinking too.

I wish I was as generous as my Dad (I wish I had his salary!), but I think that his instincts are the right ones. He is well-off and middle-class, with as he admits, more shoes than Imelda Marcos. Knowing this, knowing he has a big telly, a nice house, central heating, he can't walk past homeless people without giving them money. It doesn't
seem right.

Perhaps like Mrs Thatcher, you don't believe in society. I don't exactly explode with community feeling. But it doesn't take an enormous amount of compassion to figure out that the majority of people on the streets
are there because of mental problems, family strife, and bad luck. They aren't self-indulgence, and anybody who wants to claim that beggars get rich are either kidding themselves, or morons. You don't put youself in the cold and the wet, in danger of disease and assault, unless your
circumstances are absolutely desperate.

The world is full of worthy cause, but the homeless are one who seem to arouse the greatest amount of self-righteous claptrap. They need help, and if they ask for it, you should see what you have and hand something
over. I try to, and it's not difficult.

In the end, we will need strategies, incentives and determination to get people off the streets and into a decent life - spare change won't do this. But giving some money and no
t ignoring people in need on your doorstep is a sign of a civilised mind.

And as far as the offensive, patronising, Tony-Knows-Best guff about giving it to a recognised charity, or giving some time blah blah blah. Who the hell do these people think they are? What do right do a bunch of civil servants (which is what politicians are) have to attempt to dictate the morals of a nation. I don't have words in a polite vocabulary to describe how I feel as someone who happily voted for Labour before Blair to here such disgustingly smug pronouncements. If any good can come out of this furore, it will be in people who despise this kind of thing making a point of putting money directly into homeless people's hands this Christmas.

It's not a solution in the long-term, and maybe some people give change to feel better about themselves, but the idea of people like Blair and Prescott swanning past in their Jags, putting two fingers up at the
homeless as they pass makes me sick. To hell with them - give generously.

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