The royal wedding.

I'm sure there are 'beggars' in Windsor who are milking tourists for all they can get, but the councillor has shot himself in the foot; not only is it insulting to the genuine homeless, but he has highlighted the fact that his own Council is not dealing effectively with the problem. I can also envisage an organised protest by genuinely concerned people (and trouble-makers) on the day of the wedding.

Which is why its best, imo, to give to charities who support and help the homeless, rather than directly to people on the street who may or may not be homeless.

If no one gave to beggars, there would be no point in begging, surely.

I know that durhamjen. I meant how do "we" know whether someone is genuinely homeless or just taking advantage?

The example I gave of the man sitting outside my daughters coffee shop looked homeless . Apparently according to the police he was making between £100-£200 per day as it was a prime position for footfall.

Exactly Wilma

My local Morrisons is a bit out of town and before Christmas one Eastern European started sitting in his sleeping bag in the car park. Yesterday there were 5 rough sleepers sitting in the entrance, smoking roll ups and dithering in sleeping bags. I doubt they are homeless as apart from a sleeping bag they have no luggage at all.

Not all beggars are homeless and not all homeless are beggars. Let your conscience decide who to help.

quizqueen I hope you never fall off your pedestal because it's a long way down.

Gillybob, I said if I were homeless.
I would know if I were.

It’s just the same when various Countries host the Olympics. They all want to sweep the sad face of reality under the carpet and clear ghettos and slums. It’s the “Let’s all just pretend that it’s not happening mentality” instead of sorting out long term solutions.

One of the reasons for people being homeless is drug, alcohol or gambling dependency for which I have no sympathy for what so ever. It is also caused by not being able to afford high rents and house buying costs. The problem has been caused NOT by lack of house building but by allowing too many people to come into our country for the properties available thus causing too much demand for too little supply. Also, the generous benefit system encourages families to increase at someone else's expense or to split instead of them working together to sort out any problems in their relationships.

The socialist media though always likes to blame all the rich people or oldies living longer and having the audacious to live in a large detached property which they have worked hard to pay for while the poor just continue to breed. The world is overpopulated and that is the problem. If you cemented over the whole world the human race would expand to fill it and then we would all die because of lack of food and plants to balance the atmosphere. Unless human reproduction and immigration is severely curtailed there is NO hope for the future of the human race on this planet in any country. We are almost at the tipping point.

I am sure the bride to be is familiar with the plight and scenes of the homeless in her own country with what we too observein the UK.
If she is as sympathetic to the poor, needy and homeless in the world as the media continually point out to us that she is then surely I cannot see as this would make any difference to her who will be on the streets on 'her day' and is without a doubt down to the snobbish ott attitude of this jumped up tory councillor.

Sadly there have always been huge inequalities between people, it is nothing new. We should all be thankful that 'There but for the grace of God go I' a saying that I was brought up with, despite the fact that my childhood was not particularly privileged. None the less it is a fact of life that there have always been homeless people, we used to call them tramps or vagrants. We do need more homeless shelters, and kitchens for these people, not to mention more houses built. The problem is there whether the homeless are moved off the streets for Harry's wedding or not, and we need solutions for all the time, not just when the world's eyes are focused on us.

*kit not kut.

I echo his views. I wouldn't want MY wedding venue blighted by rough sleepers many of whom are there because they earn good money from begging. I read an article elsewhere about a man and his son who went to buy food and drink and took a rug out of his car to give to a girl (in Windsor) who was 'hungry and homeless'.
As he approached the place where she'd been begging, he saw her loading the boot of a fairly new car with all her cardboard signs, kut and caboodle, dog and pot of money. The male driver then whisked her away to the astonishment of the good samaritan and his son. All is not what it seems. They want money for drugs and booze, not a clean living environment and help into work. Their only 'friends' are others in similar circumstances. They rarely fit into what we deem to be 'normal' society.

Yes so might I durhamjen, but how do you know they are all homeless?

My DD works in Newcastle city centre. There was a guy who sat outside her coffee shop begging (refused hot food). She was told by the police that he was not homeless at all but arrived by train every morning.

Sorry. That was to Minniesmum.

I'd do exactly the same if I were homeless.

One in 20 people in one particular London Borough are homeless - they sleep on the streets or in hostels. This is a fact of life that contributes towards the increasing mental health problems in our country and capital city, and it's a disgrace. Harry I am sure, would not want to impose further hardship on such people by sweeping them off the streets so my guess is that if such a strategy were to be implemented it would be decided upon by the minions and not him. However, he is quite savvy when it comes to social media so he would not be ignorant to that and therefore, I am expecting some response from him to that suggestion. I do know, because I saw it happen, that when the first Beijing Olympics was being considered, whole swathes of hutongs were cleared on the way from the airport to the 5* hotels where the Olympic Committee were accommodated. Literally millions of poor people were made homeless for cosmetic reasons. It's all part of a cleansing operation made necessary by the huge inequalities that are allowed to perpetuate in modern society.

Are you confusing beggars with rough sleepers MinniesMum ? Some beggars take advantage of city centres, especially where there are high footfalls and lots of tourists, but they are not necessarily always rough sleepers they just move in and out to take advantage of public generosity

It does seem strange to me that the majority of rough sleepers end up in places with high tourist footfall like Windsor and Bath. Or do I have a suspicious mind.

Hulahoop, Tory councillors never think that. They have a godgiven right to be housed oppulently.

I agree, gillybob. She's better when she has a script as in Harry Potter. Even then I was expecting to cringe occasionally, but she kept to the script.

Jaycee, if I were homeless, I would take that as an invitation to go to Windsor and see what they would do.

Why should they be moved its where they "live" it's a fact of life that there are homeless he wants to think himself lucky it isn't him !

Apparently he ordered the Police to move them. The Police should remind him that they are independent of Councillors.
He could take it as an incentive to do something pro-active to actually help them.

Apologies for going off on a tangent here but did anyone follow the Real Marigold on Tour series?

I really enjoyed it, but have mixed feelings about Miriam (rhymes with gargoyles. except it kinda doesn't) Margolyes.

She is very articulate, an excellent speaker but very vulgar.

Try again.
That rhymes with gargoyles.
It's Margolyes.