To feed the beggar or feed his habit?
What you need to know:
- While many are genuine there are some who have turned the practice into a business and even use violent means to get money.
I don’t want the bread roll saga to go on forever, but a kindly Kenyan suggested that I should buy my four rolls for a bargain 100 pence and, if I can’t eat them all, I should give one away to a homeless person.
Of course, that is a sensible and compassionate suggestion. The trouble is that many beggars don’t want gifts of food – there are many charity food banks these days and my own church provides free lunches every Friday.
Mostly, they want money for drink or drugs.
Theresa, the housekeeper at St Andrew’s, gave a beggar six sandwiches and two cups of tea. Moments later, he was on the street telling passers-by he had not eaten for five days. Once, I saw a lady give the same guy an orange. When she turned away, he dropped it in the gutter. In another part of town, a young Asian girl, a student, I think, placed a plastic box of food next to a pavement beggar. He looked at it in disdain.
There are many genuinely homeless people out there, battling addictions and trying to cope with poverty or family problems.
But officials say there has been an increase in “professional” beggars who are run by gang masters and who often use threatening behaviour.
In Newcastle upon Tyne, the city council banned three aggressive beggars from the city centre. One had threatened to bite someone’s nose off after being asked to move on. Another threatened a passer-by who intervened when the beggar began hassling a young woman for money.
Stephen Bell of the charity Changing Lives said some beggars make up to £100 (Sh15,475) a day on the streets.
“There has been a rise in aggressive begging around cash points,” he said. Beggars also refined their targets according to the time of day — older people, students and lone women during the day, then drunks and party-goers at night.
Mr Bell said a colleague saw a car arrive in the city centre one morning. Three men got out and started begging at different spots. When he challenged them, he was told in no uncertain terms to go away. Gang bosses are believed to collect the first £60 (Sh9,285) of such a beggar’s take.
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Prime Minister David Cameron says the fight against Islamic State is “the struggle of our generation”. He spoke in the aftermath of the massacre by an IS fanatic of 38 holiday-makers, most of them British, on a beach in Tunisia.
According to the latest US State Department survey, terrorist attacks worldwide increased by 39 per cent between 2013 and 2014, with deaths rising from 17,891 to 32,727. And terrorist groups themselves are swelling. The survey calculated that IS harbours as many as 31,500 fighters.
Cameron promised tightened security and stepped-up military measures, but increasingly, there are calls for a united approach by IS opponents. Tunisia’s President said: “No country is safe from terrorism. We need a global strategy of all democratic countries.”
The Observer newspaper added: “An international menace requires an international response.” Whether this should involve military action against the IS heartland in Syria and Iraq or a new and friendlier approach to the Muslim world remains the big question.
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I hear there’s a lady outside of Nairobi who is farming snails for the table. The giant African land snail may be soft and slimy but it is known to be rich in protein and highly nutritious. Just cook it for seven minutes and serve with melted garlic and parsley butter and garlic bread. Delicious!
My guess is that those eating the Nairobi lady’s snails are likely to be West Africans or Europeans since I doubt the snail has become a sought-after delicacy by Kenyans.
I think this is where the marketing men should come in. Let them think up some impressive foreign name for the snails, then watch them fly off the menu. Preferably something fancy and French-sounding, like, I don’t know, escargots!
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A rich businessman was getting out of his brand-new Bentley when a truck roared past, much too close, and ripped off the driver’s door. The owner screamed hysterically about the damage to his beautiful new car. “I only bought it yesterday and now it’s completely ruined,” he cried.
A cop who had seen the accident shook his head in disbelief. “You millionaires,” he said, “all you think about is your money and possessions. Don’t you even realise the truck has torn off your left arm?”
“Oh my God,” the rich man cried. “My Rolex!”
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Mrs Smith said to Mrs Brown: “Some people can be very rude. We invited the Thompsons over to the house last night and they talked all through the television programme.”
