Clearing homeless in Windsor for the royal wedding

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WTAF? I remember fences were built to hide the ‘ unsightly’ townships in South Africa when they hosted the World Cup. I truly can’t believe this, heaven forbid the royals should see real life which might offend their sensibilities. As the old joke says the queen thinks the whole country smells of paint as there are people running around ahead of them sprucing everything up. Yes, we mustn’t present Windsor in an unfavourable light must we, nobody needs to be bothered by those pesky homeless.

Some beggars spend the mornings in the Wetherspoons and after their drink allowance for the day runs out they beg.

"What I've read says that they are professional beggars with homes to go to."

No, that's what Simon Dudley claimed.

That's been shown to be untrue and there hasn't been anyone come forward to substantiate the claims. The place is heavily CCTV'd, the evidence of aggressive begging would be easily found.

Even the DM and the Sun have interviewed the genuine Homeless people in Windsor. Most of them are victims of the benefit changes and being outside the criteria for the LA to having to help them.

We've had two recent deaths in my city of Homeless people. One 'had no recourse to public funds' it's shocking that you can die on the streets in the UK. But then, it's shocking that people are having to use food banks.

RunningOut I'm so glad that you said most cases. I most certainly wanted to be rehoused, and I was relatively quickly.

Clearing plebs for a royal wedding sounds just so medieval. Wealthy woman marries incredibly privileged, wealthy man in a bash funded by the public in a country where living standards are falling and social cohesion is falling apart, with no prospect of improvement. I can't believe all this is happening in 2018

There are many genuinely homeless people I windsor. They're easily identifiable by their attempts to keep their bags of belongings safe and dry and get some sleep safely. The large numbers of late teens / early 20s who have recently taken to sitting in their sleeping bags completely in the open close to the theatre? Not so much. A genuinely homeless person doesn't happily sit in an exposed place in the driving rain begging, they're keeping themselves covered and warm as best they can. He's expressed himself atrociously but I have some sympathy with what that councillor says although he fails to acknowledge tholong term very real problem they have

Lots of liberals and left wingers hold up the Scandinavian countries as good examples of a fair society. But begging was illegal in Norway until about 2005 and they are constantly talking about banning it again. Surely even Maggie May wouldn't do that in the U.K.!

I do see a fair number of homeless people in my work. Most of them are genuinely lovely people who ask for almost nothing, and are in the situation that a bad mistake has put them there. They really are "there but for the grace of God". When they get the opportunity they're moving upwards and it's wonderful when they come back in and you look at them and immediately know from the look on their face that things are better.

But there are those who choose to be homeless. I know of one who could have afforded accommodation with his bank account, he refused all help, would discharge himself from hospital or leave accommodation found for him.

I suspect the issue in Windsor is that the professional beggars will move in for the royal wedding. I lived in a place which had a number. When we're talking about aggressive begging, it's not sitting there shouting at people going past, it's hanging onto people's arms, standing by cash points, following people into shops. It's very intimidating
But what was noticeable about these people was where I lived was very touristy, but quite seasonal. The professional beggars came in with the tourists and left with the tourists.
I suspect that they're anticipating that and trying to send a message to people that might be thinking of coming in that they won't be allowed.

“**Rebeccaslicker

Lots of liberals and left wingers hold up the Scandinavian countries as good examples of a fair society. But begging was illegal in Norway until about 2005 and they are constantly talking about banning it again. Surely even Maggie May wouldn't do that in the U.K.!”

Begging is illegal in the UK, under the Vagrancy Act

It's a shame we can't organise for the 5,000+ homeless people living in the UK to have a holiday in Windsor, just in time for the wedding. If I had the means I'd open up a hotel for them there. I don't think we need to pretend to the word that there aren't huge inequalities in the UK, nobody buys it.

I agree the royal family are a drain, however they are only the tip of the iceberg really. There are hundreds maybe thousands of super rich tax evaders siphoning cash from the public purse. If we get rid of the monarchy we should also be clamping down on those not content to contribute to society in the way they should be. Even if we did get rid of the royals we (society) won't be given everything back, they'll keep the land, the castles, the wealth and privileges and we won't get anything at all in return.

They’ll keep land they own, but many castles are actually owned by the Country - Windsor as an example

And we would no longer have to pay for their transport, security and upkeep

They would then become super-rich tax evaders ....

Sorry but you can’t ban homeless people, you can just try to solve the issue of homelessness instead. The government we currently have is just making it worse... so there are more homeless people. It is what it is. You can’t just ban people from being in areas because they displease you. Have some humanity

Exactly @Carbohol78!

I live in an affluent corner of the south-east and there was a young homeless guy who came to our town from a nearby town because people were nicer to him here. He was offered help and turned it down because he couldn't take his dog. He would rather sleep on the streets than give up his dog. His choice. It wouldn't be the one I would make, but each to their own.

I used to sponsor a child in a third world country but the programme came to an end (after about 13 years). Rather than sponsor another child, I now sponsor a room at Centrepoint. If you are reading this thread and have the spare money available, please google Centrepoint and consider sponsoring a room too. They do great work.

There are beggars who claim benefits and supplement their incomes by begging. You would be shocked by how much money they make.
There are beggars who hassle you for money and are quite scary. Often they are not native to this country. Some people think that they are entitled to ask other people to buy their takeway/milk for them. Giving money to beggars is not helping them.

I want to be able to do things like walk to the shops without being asked for money, and then being threatened because I said no.

They’ll keep land they own, but many castles are actually owned by the Country - Windsor as an example

All land in England is ultimately owned by the Crown under conquest (theft), apart from the Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster. You may think you are the landlord, but you actually hold a fee simple on that land, granted by the Crown. That ownership is only certified by Common Law and the state, but theoretically the Crown could reassert their right of ultimate ownership.

Ifailed - hi, I recognise that, but I don’t think for a second they would dare assert rights to those lands of which they aren’t landowners in the normal fashion, if the revolution ever does come!