Broken Britain Vl - A Christmas Tale

It appears that Fagin's are back in the UK with this story of young children being dropped into the hatches of charity recycling banks, to steal second-hand clothing meant for the third world.

"They are putting a person into the hopper, usually a child, into a dark metal bank not knowing what's in there.... " Sue Ray the Oxfam spokeswoman said. She added that said the donations were "desperately needed" by shops and appealed for people to take bags directly into branches.

Is this a sign of increased poverty in the UK, or the work of 'gangs' from Albania / Roumania etc?

Who can tell, the story doesn't speculate, nor give more details.

So all I can say is that like the petrol stealing from farmhouses last year, its a new low in the UK.

There's (No) Honour Amongst Thieves

There's something oddly human about this tale of cross and double cross .... In the movie The Sting, two professional grifters (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) conspire to con a mob boss (Robert Shaw).

Last week two robbers aged 40 and 31 were robbed by two other crooks (aged 22 and 27) as they escaped with loot from a jewellery store they had just held up. All four were captured by police after they exchanged shots and chased each other in cars ..... the loot had somehow disappeared and has not been accounted for.

Police are looking for another couple of unknown suspects, who may have 'stolen' the loot in the chaos.