I had been wondering whether, if those in severe poverty were on our doorstep - slept outside no. 11, went through the dustbins at the end of our tidy drives for the scraps we throw away - whether then the Great British Public, those blessed britains, would sit up. I had been thinking that the problem is that they are out of sight, if we want them to be - and mostly we do want it. We don't have to be confronted by the moral burden of someone - thousands, millions - suffering, starving while we buy ourselves a new CD, ipod, mobile phone, computer, car, holiday ...
But then there's Pete. Pete sits outside Sainsbury's every day, that's his patch. He's clean, come off drugs, has a 1 year old daughter, sells the Big Issue, even has the prospect of a roof over his head. Today he was crying outside Sainsbury's. Sitting on the pavement with his head in his hands, hiding his tears, while people pushed past him in shining new clothes and with bulging shopping bags. He hadn't sold anything today and if he doesn't have the money for the shelter, he gets pushed down the list for housing - his chances fade.
A tiny fraction of those bulging shopping bags would get him in there.