Sue Pertwee-Tyr
Accuphase all the way down
We went into Manchester centre yesterday to do some very middle class things (visit the Christmas market, buy some artisan coffee beans, renew theatre season tickets, that sort of thing). I've been into Manchester fairly frequently over many years, and I can't remember a time when there were so many people sleeping rough. It used to be that they were confined to parts of town I tended to avoid anyway, so perhaps I didn't see them. Now though, they are everywhere and impossible to miss.
As a kid, in the sixties, we had a school holiday to That London, which is where I saw my first homeless people and rough sleepers. I still remember how shocked I was. It still shocks me, but the scale of it in my home town is something I've never seen before. I honestly don't know how to react. I don't give change, partly because I don't want to feed a habit and perpetuate a problem and I don't really know whether I'm helping or making things worse, but also, pragmatically, because I can't give to every one of them I encounter and I can't single one or two out for help and avoid the gaze of the others.
I do give to charities like Shelter, and Crisis, and I hope that does more good for these unfortunate people than my giving a quid or two at random might do, but honestly, I don't really know what to do for the best. Not voting Tory is a given, by the way.
As a kid, in the sixties, we had a school holiday to That London, which is where I saw my first homeless people and rough sleepers. I still remember how shocked I was. It still shocks me, but the scale of it in my home town is something I've never seen before. I honestly don't know how to react. I don't give change, partly because I don't want to feed a habit and perpetuate a problem and I don't really know whether I'm helping or making things worse, but also, pragmatically, because I can't give to every one of them I encounter and I can't single one or two out for help and avoid the gaze of the others.
I do give to charities like Shelter, and Crisis, and I hope that does more good for these unfortunate people than my giving a quid or two at random might do, but honestly, I don't really know what to do for the best. Not voting Tory is a given, by the way.