I know I am, but this Big Issue seller is trying to sell to the public and I won't go near him even though I want to buy one because....

[GirlsAreLOud]

...he has an enormous rottweiler. That was the reason I haven't been near him to buy one before.

Today I saw him and he had a rottweiler and...a doberman.

And yes, I know companion dogs can be hugely important if you are homeless and that's why I know I'm being unreasonable.

But so many people must give him a wide berth and not buy from him because of his dogs. I;ve seen him walk through the shopping centre without a the rotty on a lead.

limon if that had been you as it was me at 18 i wonder whether you would have same attitude. the 18 yr old student was me

I'm sorry you were raped, TLE. but you were raped by a rapist. It doesn't follow that all big issue sellers are rapists, any more than it follows that all white men are rapists, or that every man in his mid 20s who sits next to me on a bus is going to try to put his hand down my pants (this happened to me when I was pregnant with ds1).

Your attacker was an evil man, he happened to sell the big Issue. My attacker was a horrible man, he happened to be traveling by bus.

Colditz, I agree unfortunatly i still see big issue sellers and rapists as one and the same.

TLE i'veread your links before and I am ever so for you and I want to say this as someone who has also been raped, albeit in a very different situation and probably far less scary. You do know me, and if you CAT me I will be happy to give my 'true identity' away.

The person who raped you was an evil bastard, through amd through, there is no excuse for what he did and IMO it would be ridiculous to expect you to ever even consider approaching anyone in that situation again. But- and there is a but- it doesn't change the reason behind the big issue selling and that is a good one, the idea of gainful employment for homeless people. There are many professions in which someone with power has raped or otherwise harmed someone, but we cannot and shouldn't assume all are going to do that because one did.

Now, I would personally exempt you from that becuase the fact that you've got this far and not ended up a gibbering wreck is a pure credit to your strength. But most of us are not that you, and we don't have the same links in our minds.

I'm sorry you were raped TLE, but maybe this isn't the right discussion for those issues. Tarring all Big Issue sellers with the same brush is still wrong.

I think the most worrying point wrt TLE and the vendor is that the Big Issue employed someone who was a convicted murderer. I'm OK with them employing criminals who have served their time. But murderers strikes me as a bit much, frankly.

My lovely regular vendor, Margaret, has disappeared and been replaced by someone I really don't like. Still buy the mag (new vendor doesn't speak English so can't tell me what happened to Margaret - I hope she's moved in with her daughter or something) but feel v. awkward about it.

New vendor keeps begging - wheedling tones asking me to go into Boots and buy shampoo, or go into the sandwich shop. Find it very difficult as given she's selling the Issue, she's got money to buy shampoo and sandwiches and I know it's against BI rules to beg. But I haven't reported her as it seems a bit busy-body-ish, and God knows, maybe the poor woman has a partner who nicks all her money or something.

(And there aren't any other vendors round here - Margaret used to commute from London!)