Shoplifting..... So desperate at Christmas

[stubbs0412]

Not me btw
Whilst waiting in supermarket queue someone was escorted out by the police...."shoplifters" says the cashier. "Well, people are just so desperate this time of year aren't they?" Says the person in front of me. I could feel myself actually agreeing, is this u? R my morals slipping? I honestly don't think I would report someone I saw shoplifting food either.

Esther not my favourite

I don't think you are alone somehow with that one noddy

She is the personification of social climber stamp over everyone on your way up!

Sometimes the poor are praised for being thrifty. But to recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is starving to eat less. For a town or country labourer to practise thrift would be absolutely immoral. Man should not be ready to show that he can live like a badly-fed animal. He should decline to live like that, and should either steal or go on the rates, which is considered by many to be a form of stealing. As for begging, it is safer to beg than to take, but it is finer to take than to beg. No: a poor man who is ungrateful, unthrifty, discontented, and rebellious, is probably a real personality, and has much in him. He is at any rate a healthy protest. As for the virtuous poor, one can pity them, of course, but one cannot possibly admire them. They have made private terms with the enemy, and sold their birthright for very bad pottage. They must also be extraordinarily stupid. I can quite understand a man accepting laws that protect private property, and admit of its accumulation, as long as he himself is able under those conditions to realise some form of beautiful and intellectual life. But it is almost incredible to me how a man whose life is marred and made hideous by such laws can possibly acquiesce in their continuance.

Especially those people who think they ought to have something a little better than soup at Christmas - just WHO do they think they are??? Stuff the season of goodwill and throw them all in jail where they belong, damned scroungers!

And close those infernal food banks, they are giving our glorious party a bad name.

Custy

You go girl!

Heres some hypocrisy for you...Quite a few years ago i was christmas temping for a well known electrical retailer.
We (the staff) used to be searched every night before we left Fine. I didnt mind that.
But we were expected to leave our handbags unattended at the back of the store because the lockers provided DIDNT lock.
My shift ended and i went right to the back of the biulding to get my bag. I found my handbag and contents...purse etc strewn all over the floor. I complained and one of the managers said "well as long as nothings missing" Not really the point. I phoned my bank and they agreed it was best to cancel my card in case someone had copied down the number. Yep ....on 22nd December 3 days before Christmas After that my bag was kept in the shops cash office (they had the choice of that or me carrying it on me at all times which could have attracted the odd question about it from customers.) So this company were on the ball about possible shoplifting by customers and/or staff. But the same respect for staff property??!! Not so much!!!!!

Shoplifting is not a victimless crime. Prices go up for all of us and staff in some companies get their wages docked if shoplifting goes above a certain level. These staff could easily be struggling themselves and the amount their wages are docked could mean them doing without at Christmas or any other time.

I'd rather starve than steal. Though I have been so hungry I've considered bin raking (yes I know that's illegal too) but I did only think about it and my morals won out.

Ah ok. So I am extraordinarily stupid for making do myself when I did not have much money. And I am also grotesque and insulting for suggesting the same to others.

I must learn more of these left wing liberal and tolerant ways.

I've been reading this thread and the reference to foodbanks, I thought this e-mail that I had might be of interest. Cliff, your post at 1508 made reference to Iain Duncan Smith laughing. Apparently, he wasn't even there for the whole debate.

I'm going to start lobbying the MPs - HARD. It's just not good enough. :(

===========================================
A few weeks ago I started a petition to get Parliament to debate hunger in the UK and why there's been a rise in the use of foodbanks. I thought I'd work steadily towards 100,000 signers over a few months and aim for a debate by Spring. How wrong was I?!

Within a day more than 60,000 people had signed and the campaign made the frontpage of the Independent. Within two weeks you helped the campaign reach 142,000 signers and on Wednesday we secured our goal of a debate in Parliament.

People going hungry in the UK has been a quiet secret for too long now, often only seen by the volunteers dealing with an increasing number of families turning to foodbanks. This petition changed that: #Foodbanks was trending on Twitter, the campaign reached the newspaper frontpages -- and most importantly MPs sat for three hours and heard story after story of what it is like to struggle in modern Britain.

Over 60 Labour MPs requested to speak at the debate and they took turns to tell the stories of their constituents. We heard about the ex-serviceman who turned to a foodbank while waiting for four weeks for Atos to deal with his appeal. The story of two hungry young boys who came to ask for one packet of cereal and one packet of drinking chocolate as a treat. And we heard of the man whose benefits were sanctioned when he couldn't attend an assessment interview because he was in hospital with his wife who was seriously ill with cancer.

Unfortunately Government ministers held their party line. Esther McVey said: "it is right to say that more people are visiting foodbanks, as we would expect.” And while Iain Duncan Smith turned up for the debate a victory in itself he chose not to stick around and snuck out half way through.

We should be proud of what we achieved through this petition. MPs were reminded of the people that they are there to represent. And while some of them might try to drown out the stories with jeers and laughter -- these stories are now out in the open for all to see. They are on the official Hansard record and can't be ignored any longer.

This debate is just the start - we'll be back in the New Year fighting food poverty - because hunger isn't going to go away. If your MP is one of the shameful 296 who voted against the motion to investigate foodbank use - why not invite them to go along with you to visit a Trussell Trust foodbank in the new year.

There are lots of other ways you can get involved to help foodbanks in your area -- check out The Mirror who have been backing this campaign for more details.

Thank you, well done and Happy Christmas!

Jack Monroe
@msjackmonroe

agree lying witch, IDS cackled and smirked ....then......then he fucked off

he
fucked
off

he couldn't be fucking arsed to listen to the labour MPs relaying truly horrible stories from their constituents and how

fucking hungry they are

hungry

someone said way up the thread that the welfare state provides enough to live on

it just doesn't. it doesn't account for the numerous changes in circumstances that people have

your mothers funeral today - well youdidn't come to sign on - YOU ARE SANCTIONED FOR THREE MONTHS

three months - with nothing

nada

not a little bit to get you through

FUCK ALL

nothing

nothing for food, rent, bills

nothing

got a job interview the day you sign on

SANCTION

sanction twice in a row - minimum 6 FUCKING MONTHS WITH NOTHING

Stealing is always wrong no matter what the reason. There are charities that provide food for free for people who have none, so there really isn't any need to shoplift.

The food banks are not open 24 hours though, round here they are Mon, Weds & Thurs. What happens if you find yourself without food on a Friday? its a long weekend on nothing until Monday. Sometimes people are desperate.

Oh dear leftkidney you are spectacularly failing to get the point.

Do you not find it interesting that you insist on referring to those with a different opinion as "left wing liberal" when not one person has made any such assumptions about your own political viewpoints or stance?

It is not very common sense or logical to start being presumptious about your debators now. It only confirms a sense of judgement. I am sure that your experiences have not hardened you that much.

I dined like a lord once, in a French chateau and was given vintage wine, champagne and real cavair. I still don't feel qualified to condemn all those who earn more than me or to speak on their behalf. It was an interesting period of our lives but it didn't last long. What it taught me was that there are some very generous and sociable people out there who are happy to share whatever they have, no matter how much they have, with people like us. It humbled me.

Not every rich person is a thieving, tax avoiding Tory scumbag and not every poor person is a left wing, scrounging liberal.

I bid you all g'night as I've bread and soup to dish out now to Tiny Tim.

this government

this system

this demonisation of the poor makes me want to sick up a leg

a full fucking leg

yeah lets concentrate on the man stealing a fucking packet of ham

whilst the place hes stealing it from dodges taxes and has slave labour

what the actual fucking fuck?!

you aren't allowed to go to food banks every week either

you get given a couple of vouchers - then you've had your lot becuase there are other people who need to use it and havent had their turn

Relax, it was a joke - I'm not quite sure there is any other way to respond to such a ridiculous post. Your siding with somebody who has clearly eaten one too many editions of Socialist Worker magazine doesn't do much to strengthen your side of the argument.

Tiredemma

You've made me quite ashamed of my previous 'zero tolerance' thoughts. I personally wouldn't steal and like to think my life is going in a different direction, but every 'low life' is someone's loved one gone off track. There but for the grace if god it's not my brother/son.

Hope things work out for your brother (sorry if it sounds trite. Your post brought a lump to my throat)

There you go again leftkidney, your arguments diminish when you start to throw judgements and presumptions everywhere. You clearly want to insult. Such a shame. I daresay that doesn't strengthen your argument either

Oh and shouldn't that be rightkidney?

cliff you sound like your a socialist and as such aren't entitled to an opinion because the very label negates it

cliff I'M a student and I CAN'T AFFORD A TURKEY, do you think it'd be ok if I stole one?!? SERIOUSLY?! I'll be having a pizza & oven chips for Christmas dinner and I don't feel deprived, I feel lucky I have food considering how many people in the world don't FFS.

How are you not getting this?!

Cliff, so someone calls me "extraordinarily stupid" and "grotesque", I offer a fairly tame comeback and you immediately label me as "clearly wanting to insult". I don't think that's an entirely unbiased account of events.

morals and laws are not always the same thing. Big supermarkets do plenty that's lawful but immoral, in my view at least.

And I wouldn't think that a complete cessation of all shoplifting would make even the tiniest difference to prices.

that was Oscar Wilde

i just agree with him

How are you not getting that I never said it was ok to steal?

I said that when put in context with the owner of Tesco not paying billions in taxs it seems like a rather trite crime. I also said I understood why desperate people steal.

How you can conclude from that that I think it's ok to steal is beyond me. But do feel free to make knee jerk reactions.

Yes Custy, I am obviously Karl Marx and think that all criminals should be set free and we should hug everyone in a sea of love.
I really do have to go and cook that soup now!

Peace and love man!