Giving money to beggars does more harm than good

I still feel bad about the beggar I ignored years ago.

Fear of being mugged while fumbling for money has often kept me walking past beggars. But on that occasion I felt safe since I was with friends. Wimpishly, I took my cue from them. Later we compared notes – we’d all felt a strong urge to give.

Some of us never give, others always do, and, some like me, agonise, summoning instinct to make snap decisions, then fretting we’ve made the wrong ones.

Lately, I’ve been wondering if I should always walk on by, though reasons to give freely tug at my heartstrings.

Contrary to urban myth, those asking for money usually don’t make rich pickings, as television presenter Jeremy Kyle has just found out. He went undercover with a homeless man, huddling in a Manchester doorway behind a sign asking for help. After four hours, during which two hundred people passed by, all they got was £4.