Beggars Waterloo/Borough

is it me or is it an epedemic.? waterloo has become the focal point for the heavy drinkers and beggars.
passed borough market yesteday to see a couple hurredly walking from their homes to get to borough market to sit and beg near the cash points at peak time.. and people give em cash!!! i am sure society has let them down.. but surely things have got worse around these areas,, but if people continue to give to them.. do they think they are helping...??

BoroughMark and myself were accosted by a nasty type selling the big issue a couple of weeks back (also at borough market). on being given a polite "no thanks" to his sales pitch he replied "f**k you then". isnt there some kind of code of conduct for these characters??

Most of it will go on smack... so they're not helping at all.

I need to get this off my chest-
I really resent suburbanites and tourists coming to where I live, and promoting begging. Is begging illegal, is giving to beggars illegal?
Thankyou SE1

boomshake wrote:

but if people continue to give to them.. do they think they are helping...??

No - I'd have thought it condemns them to continue that lifestyle.

Boomshake, just of very idle curiosity how do you know they were coming from their homes? in which case if they have a home or somewhere to put their head, in my eyes that would not quantify them as homeless..

possibly a drug habit, in which case if they are begging they are not mugging/stealing..there is normally a young black man who sits near the garage in new kent road, his poor face shows signs of being really truly homeless, scarred and bloodied where someone has set upon him while he was asleep. He is always very very polite when he asks you if you have any spare change..so sad.

If you don't like it - clear off! The hostels where these guys live have been here a lot longer than you probably have. There may be a few "down and outs" around (there certainly have been during my 7 and a half years here) but they add more character to the area than boring prats like you.

Oh dear. Begging is one of those subjects that seems to bring out the worst in people. We had a similar thread last year in which some sentiments were aired which I found profoundly depressing and troubling.

peterroe - I'm not sure who your comments were aimed at, but please don't coarsen the debate with personal insults.

I'm sure others would share your point of view, but the tone of your message is unlikely to provoke sensible, measured responses on either side of the debate.

(If it was graham's post you were reacting to, I suspect that it may have been tongue in cheek...)

Just get annoyed at people like those, for instance, who move to the country and complain that it smells of cow poo. And I think we're seeing a new kind of intolerance these days that, to me, is getting a bit scary.

Please don't get me started on the dairy industry!