Beggers Belief

[Dexter St. Clair]

[deevlash]

found one! I shall now, erm, interogate her

[potatojunkie]

Did anyone actually bother reading the article? The money is already being taken from the dormant accounts, as per the Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill. From the summary:

In England, the assets will be spent with three aims in mind: providing opportunities for young people; improving financial capability and supporting institutions involved in social lending.
The relevant Devolved Authority will set the priorities for other countries.

So "distribute the money to the community" is being discussed as an option, whereas "leave it sitting in the bank", er, isn't.

From the HM Treasury page on the subject:

Principles of the unclaimed assets scheme

The key principles of the proposed scheme are:

* wherever possible to re-unite account holders with the assets that are rightfully theirs;
* to provide a legal right for account holders to reclaim their money at any time;
* to take a light touch approach which minimises running costs for the scheme and participating institutions by wherever possible building on existing infrastructure in order to maximise the money available for reinvestment in the community; and
* to take account of better regulation principles. The proposed UK scheme will therefore differ significantly from other international arrangements being, in part, a self-regulatory scheme.

(emphasis mine).

Anyone crying about theft would do well to actually read the legislation, paying particular attention to the section describing the function of the "reclaim fund".

[lynnski]

Thank you Potatojunkie, the voice of reason!!

[cheesemonster]

A man stopped me today on Queen street and asked me if I spoke Dutch. I said I didn't, then he told me he was from Kosovo (with it's well known Dutch speaking population) and spoke very little English. He pulled out a train ticket that looked as though it had been in his pocket for months and said he needed money to get home. I'm not sure how much a single is to Pristina is, so I just told him that I had no money and walked off.

[Fat Cat]

Sunday Herald

Bid to give £40m lying dormant to Scotland’s poor

MILLIONS OF pounds left in dormant bank accounts and unclaimed assets should be given to Scotland's most disadvantaged communities, an anti-poverty campaigner will argue at a major conference tomorrow.

About £40 million will be redistributed by the Scottish government to charities and organisations once a consultation has been closed in September. The UK accounts are considered "dormant" after 15 years.

Not just bank accounts. I paid off a credit card about two years ago. I got a statement in for the first time in two years re this statement saying I was 34 p in credit. When I called about it, I was given some old fanny about "we are just sending you this as you are in credit" even thought the said card was cancelled two years ago. The banks must be trying to round up every single penny they can these days.

[Mori]

[Wee Minx]

that's ma pic
RIGHT HERE

[Mori]

Hope you didn't mind me postin yer pic Minxy

[HollowHorn]

Considering the self portrait she's posted as an avatar, an widnae think so.

[Wee Minx]

Shuttit you

[Mori]

ET

Scam warning over barefoot begging con

POLICE today warned of the latest street scam in Glasgow: barefoot beggars.

Officers warned people not to be duped by men with no shoes hunched on main shopping streets asking for money.
City businesses also urged action against the beggars, who are clearly organised.
Chief Inspector Alan Porte – the officer in charge of policing the city centre – said: "This is a scam. We have evidence of people taking off their shoes, hiding them and pretending to be barefoot.
"These shoe-less 
beggars are praying on people's good nature."
Some barefoot beggars – believed to be Roma from south-eastern Europe – have been detained in Glasgow.
Begging is not against the law in Scotland.
Police have limited powers to deal with the scam – although anyone behaving aggressively can be lifted.
Mr Porte added: "There are two distinct groups of people who beg in the city centre.
"There are the regular indigenous individuals who, for whatever reason, are down on their luck".
"But there are also people who are actively engaged in begging who are doing it almost as an occupation.
"This is relatively organised.
"They are often working in pairs.
"One, a man, usually takes his shoes off, rolls up his trouser, crouches down, puts a T-shirt over his knees and shivers and sometimes sobs.
"People naturally feel sympathy for him, think there is something wrong and will then perhaps purchase shoes or food or give them money, vouchers that kind of thing.
He said: "We see this scam every day.
"These men are not shoe-less, their shoes are held by a girl with a backpack who keeps a look-out for the police.
"We even had a shopper buying one of them a gift card to buy shoes, only for the 'shoe-less' man to later attempt to get a refund on the card.

[The Egg Man]

...........

Scam warning over barefoot begging con

................

You can tell it's a quiet news day.

[Dot]

I wonder if Jeffrey Hillman in New York was the the one who gave them the idea.
He received shoes from an NYPD officer in New York though it was later discovered he had an apartment in the Bronx.

He refused help from Government departments and family members.

[pingu]

was standing out side a pub the other night having a smoke and a begger comes up.

NO i said before he even opened his mouth so he doesnt talk to me but asks my mate next to me for a fiver so he can buy some beers....yes a fiver!!!!!!

when my mate said he had no change the cheeky erm...begger asked him if he could go into the bar and get change..

after my mate had stopped laughing he told him in no uncertain terms where to go.

what happened to asking for 10p or spare change?