Child Beggars in London

[Neil]

A BBC journalist tries talking to a Romanian husband & wife - Watch and see who you things wears the trousers in that relationship... http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/fr...00/9618848.stm Let's not even get started on the actual subject of the program

[AcesandEights]

One of my top two uncomfortable overseas moments involved a London beggar. No fun at all, that. But the rest of the city was beautiful and--contrary to what many people told us--as clean as a whistle.

[Mr. Clean]

Children begging....That's crazy. Does London not have a child services program?

[Tricky]

I think London is a horrid place, I dont go often but when I have I found the people rude and everyone is caught up in their own little world and don't seem to give a shit about anyone else. Plus they seem to think those of us from the north are some kind of ill educated paupers The city itself is nice enough when you go visit the tourist attractions but apart from that I'm not a fan. My girlfriend lived there for a year or so but moved back to York because she didnt like it. As for beggars, every UK city has them, I've seen loads in Liverpool and some of them are quite aggressive, following you down the street shouting at you if you choose to ignore them (as I always do with the ones who look like druggies). I havent seen any child beggars but it wouldnt suprise me, especially with the high numbers of illegal immigrant families that flock here...

[SymphonicX]

With the UK border laws the way they are, these people aren't here illegally in a lot of cases. The child begging phenomenom is no way new - and it's certainly not specific only to Romanian or European immigrants. I've seen all types of people subjecting their kids to this abuse - one little english girl approached me in a McDonalds with a hastily scribbled note whilst her mother stood in the doorway egging her on to beg from the customers. Horrible. It's no secret that the Romany beggars are making a LOT of money from this enterprise - a friend of mine used to own an off licence and he regularly had chats with them - they would visit his shop of an evening and would buy around 5 bottles of expensive Martel spirit whilst bragging of their "income", even going as far as to show him a picture of this fat woman on a bed....surrounded by money..... Very sad times but there's always a fringe of society that will use ANY means necessary to get your money - but you'd be fooling yourself to believe it's just one culture of immigrants who are the perpetrators of this - it's far reaching and transcends race and culture by far. Grave robbery has existed in every culture, so has child beggars.

[Mr. Clean]

oh I get it. The children aren't really poor but just being used by their parents to make money. I was under the impression that they were abandoned or something.