egafd.com

Oh come on, Emily. Anyone would think it was human beings you were talking about.

Oh, they are. Still doesn't give them the right to harass innocent philanthropists on their way to the pie shop, though, does it.

(I know you're intelligent enough to realise that this heavy sarcasm isn't aimed at you)

I'm not the one who proudly walks past them.

Full agreement, Em.

Outside pubs near me its can you give me some money or do you have change i usually just ignore them women are just the same too.

For what it's worth, I think you should treat every case on its merits. If, in the end, someone has preyed on your good nature to con some small amount of cash from you, it says more about their cynical abuse of decency than it does about you. Higher scale cons are fairly contemptible.

I recall my elderly parents falling for the foreign businessman con---he was on his way to an airport, but had too much stuff in his luggage and had to lose three top-quality Italian leather coats for a giveaway price. Of course, the coats turn out not to be leather, and the aged Ps feel foolish afterwards. But they'd felt sorry for him. Think that says more for their decency as human beings than for their gullibility. How the conman can sleep at night, though, fleecing working-class pensioners of money they cannot afford to lose I just don't know.

In life, we all have to take chances with trust. If we get burnt too many times, we become cold and hard and start viewing homelessness in the UK, or starvation in Africa, as a cynical ploy to part us from our money. I'd rather err on the side of conscience.

* With regard clothes collections, Steve, check the flyers that come through the door. Most of these tend to be from private companies rather than charities, hoping people won't notice the difference, and they then clean up stuff collected and sell it. If you want to give, check with your local charity shop, or hospice, or give to a cause you know and respect.

Curiously pertinent to the subject: playing on the radio, Arrested Development's Mr Wendal.