On 13 Dec 2020 at 7:14pm Nevillman wrote:
Should I just accept regard beggars as just another thing I see when down town? People just trying to get enough to eat by doing what they are doing in the same way that the shop keeper or parking attendants are or people in need of my charity.
On 13 Dec 2020 at 9:59pm Nick wrote:
There are people who are genuinely in need and there are others who are simply con artists. Did anyone see the black fellow last week who was wearing welly boots with half the sole missing and using a baby buggy to push his bag of belongings around. He looked genuinely in need, yet I never once saw him asking for money.
On 14 Dec 2020 at 7:23am Hyena wrote:
Nick, why didn’t you just say the ‘fellow with a hole in his boot’
On 14 Dec 2020 at 7:48am Mark wrote:
I can remember, in the very early days of Tory government, the first time that I saw a street homeless person sitting in a doorway in Cliffe High Street. For a second I thought I was hallucinating. This couldn't occur in Lewes! Now it's just part of daily life.
On 14 Dec 2020 at 10:28am The Old Mayor wrote:
Because Mark, if you remember the departing labour government left a note behind saying 'there's no money left' !!!!
On 14 Dec 2020 at 10:45am Green Sleeves wrote:
Yes Old Mayor, they did leave that note, which the tories have since cynically exploited at every election and bozos like you use it as some sort of excuse for the tories dismal decade in power since.
Austerity was a policy out of choice for the tories. They are predominantly responsible for the massive rise in homelessness and poverty in the UK. They have full control over the countries finances, and evidently there is plenty of money available when there is a genuine will to solve serious problems.
On 14 Dec 2020 at 12:53pm Nick wrote:
@Hyena, because in all of my 62 years on this planet, I have not been taught otherwise.
On 14 Dec 2020 at 12:53pm Tom Pain wrote:
Testing
On 14 Dec 2020 at 1:41pm Basil wrote:
Tom Pain wrote: Testing.
I'm always surprised how frequently my posts just don't appear.
On 14 Dec 2020 at 2:37pm Mark wrote:
Read up a bit on political history, Old Mayor. That business of leaving a note saying, "Sorry, there's no money left" is an insider's Westminster joke that dates back to the days of Winston Churchill. It's how Chancellors pass on the reins. One particular government was cheap enough to leak it to the press for political gain.
On 14 Dec 2020 at 2:57pm Tom Pain wrote:
All the countries involved in WW1 declared bankruptcy so it's no great surprise.
On 14 Dec 2020 at 3:03pm Tom Pain wrote:
Basil, I just found a forum thread among my pdfs! Minus my reply.
On 14 Dec 2020 at 8:03pm Nevillman wrote:
Accepting that each person I see begging has their own story would they all have had an alternative they would regard as acceptable pre austerity? Is it that now they are offered no alternative at all or just one they find less appealing than begging? I would like to hear from anyone who really knows what their alternatives are as well as Tom's view and anyone else's.
On 14 Dec 2020 at 8:12pm Nick wrote:
The elderly homeless lady who sleeps in the doorway behind Hixon Green has a story to tell. She is however, very private and very proud. What’s more, she doesn’t ask anyone for anything.
On 15 Dec 2020 at 10:53am Tom Pain wrote:
Thanks Nev. I think austerity is going to bite much harder with the unnecessary lock downs and there's going to be more beggars on the streets. The universal basic income will be touted as the new saviour and the television will gush with praise for it. Nasty Trump stereotypes will oppose it in time honoured fashion and the public will grasp it with grateful hands. It will be a digital account distributed according to your social credit, obedience will be rewarded and non compliance will be impossible as you can't beg for digits on a screen and you'd starve.
On 15 Dec 2020 at 6:06pm Basil wrote:
Mark wrote: 'One particular government was cheap enough to leak it to the press for political gain.'
My first recollection of a note is Reggie Maudling leaving one for James Callaghan in 1964. So this joke was presumably leaked too.
On 15 Dec 2020 at 8:01pm Nevillman wrote:
That lady is clearly not a beggar nick. You astound me yet again Tom but you might have a point that a career in begging becomes more appealing than the alternative whether it is universal basic income or something more likely.
On 15 Dec 2020 at 10:08pm Tom Pain wrote:
What's more likely?
On 16 Dec 2020 at 8:09am Nevillman wrote:
While the majority of the working population are willing and able to work and there are still jobs then I think it is unlikely that a universal basic income would be introduced Tom. Although a rise in unemployment must be highly likely we are nowhere near machines and computers taking over all our jobs yet. Universal basic income is a very radical step that I don't think we are anywhere near. It is much more likely that benefits will just be reduced and for some people, begging may become a more attractive option, particularly as it seems that much of the stigma of it has gone and it appears to be accepted as a legitimate career and lifestyle choice.
On 16 Dec 2020 at 12:03pm Mark wrote:
This may be true Basil. If so, your memory is better than mine. My point is that it's a sad thing that people like the Old Mayor lap up this sort of simplistic, fake news. The completely ridiculous idea that an outgoing Chancellor would depart leaving "An opps...I'm sorry about this" note. The banking crisis originated in the American sub-prime mortgage market. Crafty bankers short sold on that bubble. It was global. It decimated the Greek economy at a time when they were trying to expand their public spending. It wasn't caused by a Labour government providing excessively generous free school dinners to the greedy children of single mothers (life in the Daily Mail realm) necessitating furious austerity.
On 22 Dec 2020 at 11:50pm Basil wrote:
I agree Mark. Though what 'decimated' the Greek economy was the Euro and Germany's response to the Greek crisis as it devastated the country's economy to defend the interests of German and French banks.
On 22 Dec 2020 at 11:57pm Tom Pain wrote:
The banks are international, at least their owners.
On 24 Dec 2020 at 3:28pm IDM wrote:
I don't have any problem with "black", as long it is purely descriptive (in this case to jog memory); but not insulting, derogatory or implying white supremacy. I hope that non-whites use "white" in the same way. If I saw someone throw a brick through a window, I would have no hesitation in telling the police that they were disabled (ie in a mobility scooter).
On 28 Dec 2020 at 5:35pm I Say Ding Dong wrote:
You could ring a beggar and ask him/her the original question as raised by Nevillman on 13 December. It shouldn't be that hard at least one regular one has a late model I-phone tucked away in his blankets or hoody. Help genuine people by all means but beware some only accept Waitrose sandwiches and look disdainfully at anything from the other side of the river.