Big Issue sellers in Liverpool

Anyone from UK may have heard about the recent arrest of 54 Big Issue sellers in Liverpool for drug dealing..... it seems that although the media would have us believe all of these arrests where made in Liverpool, actually only 12 where from the city. Not only where there only 12 arrested but it took 200 police officers and a million pounds of our money to do so. [It's worth remembering that the Big Issue does not recieve any money from Liverpool city council to help them.]Another point.... the sellers where actually set up... the police gave them the money to go and get the drugs and them did them for dealing. Is this not entrapment?

This sort of story angers me...these guys stand out in the cold all sorts of weather,
i have talked to many issue sellers and they are really trying to get them selfs out of being homeless...
i mean they could just doss around but they dont they choose to work for very little money..

The big issue people piss me right off, i say "no i don't want one" and they tell me to # right off

Originally posted by asala
This sort of story angers me...these guys stand out in the cold all sorts of weather,
i have talked to many issue sellers and they are really trying to get them selfs out of being homeless...
i mean they could just doss around but they dont they choose to work for very little money..

My thoughts exactly, they only make 70 pence per magazine. 90% of the sellers are honestly trying to get their lives together yet the police and council want to tar them all with the same brush. Supposedly all Big issue sellers have now been banned from Liverpool! So much for trying to earn an honest living and help yourself.

Originally posted by infinite
The big issue people piss me right off, i say "no i don't want one" and they tell me to # right off

Probably because of the way you tell them you dont want one.

Do you know what the Big Issue is for? Do you understand where the money goes and who the people who are freezing their arses off all day on the street trying to sell them are?

I suppose you are ok though arent you? In your posh, middle class, Kent, detached maison.

[Edited on 22-10-2003 by triplesod]

Before on the main road close to my home I gave a homeless guy some money after he told me he and other homeless people had been banned from selling the Big Issue in the City Centre.
This is a disgrace, whenever I see a Big Issue seller and I don't want to buy one I treat him with respect and say I don't want one at that point in time, I always recieve a polite response. Yes there are a couple of scumbags about, but isn't that true of everything?

and infinite, I find your attitude truly disturbing. Most of these people are just trying to make an honest living, and their ugly response probably comes from your bad attitude towards them. It shocks me the amount of people when asked to buy a Big Issue, completely ignore the seller and turn their heads the other way as though they hadn't even seen them. This is damn well disrespectful, and if someone did this to you wouldn't you tell them to "# Off"?

It shocks me the amount of people when asked to buy a Big Issue, completely ignore the seller and turn their heads the other way as though they hadn't even seen them. This is damn well disrespectful, and if someone did this to you wouldn't you tell them to "frock Off"?

This is completly how i think about it...
Its just so rude how some people act...
i just hope one day they feel what its like to lose everything and try to make a living...

maybe you should try just talking to the seller...you will be suprised at the strenth of some of these people
you can learn a hell of alot!!!!

well around the streets most of the homeless i see..

(not including big issue sellers as most have a roof over their heads with a shelter, im pretty sure big issue sellers need an address to register to sell the mag)

are addict's and alcoholics... i would not give them money but if i felt in a good mood i would certainly buy them a sandwich/hot food and a cup of tea..

but sometimes i think maybe giving an addict some money might stop him/her mugging an old lady a few hours later because he/she cannot afford her fix...

so its catch 22.. i have given money to homeless addicts.. but not recently...

Originally posted by The Blade Runner
but sometimes i think maybe giving an addict some money might stop him/her mugging an old lady a few hours later because he/she cannot afford her fix...

so its catch 22.. i have given money to homeless addicts.. but not recently...

Rubbish!

You have no idea what you are talking about.

Firstly, how the # do you know these people have any habit whatsoever?

secondly, as i have written a couple of times on here. I have had a heroin addiction for several years, which means that most of my mates also have habits. I, nor anyone I know has ever robbed anyone or anything to pay for a fix! Most smackheads have a saying "just because i am in pain and suffering does not mean i should let anyone else suffer because of it!".

Yes, of course some people with addictions to rob to fund their habit but you would be suprised by how much of a minority trhose people are.

I used to be homeless.
However I have a wee joke.

Knock, knock
Who's there?
Biggish
Biggish who?
No thanks mate I've already bought one.

Originally posted by triplesod

Originally posted by The Blade Runner
but sometimes i think maybe giving an addict some money might stop him/her mugging an old lady a few hours later because he/she cannot afford her fix...

so its catch 22.. i have given money to homeless addicts.. but not recently...

Rubbish!

You have no idea what you are talking about.

Firstly, how the # do you know these people have any habit whatsoever?

secondly, as i have written a couple of times on here. I have had a heroin addiction for several years, which means that most of my mates also have habits. I, nor anyone I know has ever robbed anyone or anything to pay for a fix! Most smackheads have a saying "just because i am in pain and suffering does not mean i should let anyone else suffer because of it!".

Yes, of course some people with addictions to rob to fund their habit but you would be suprised by how much of a minority trhose people are.

every single smackhead i have met has been bad news... i personally think you dont have any idea what your talking about...

Blade runner you are a moron. There's just no reply to your stereotypical b*******

Originally posted by triplesod

Originally posted by infinite
The big issue people piss me right off, i say "no i don't want one" and they tell me to # right off

Probably because of the way you tell them you dont want one.

Do you know what the Big Issue is for? Do you understand where the money goes and who the people who are freezing their arses off all day on the street trying to sell them are?

I suppose you are ok though arent you? In your posh, middle class, Kent, detached maison.

[Edited on 22-10-2003 by triplesod]

i know what the big issuse is for and im telling them i don't want one in the nicest way. some are just plan rude, but i do give money to the homeless sometimes when i walk pass them.

as for the "I suppose you are ok though arent you? In your posh, middle class, Kent, detached maison." i wish i did live in a detached maison and im not posh , so think before u make urself look like a fool ok?

look, i couldnt give a shiney #e, what you think i know or dont know.. im telling you 100% truthfully from my experiences that every smackhead i have met has been bad news..

maybe ive been unlucky but im sorry. i do live in one of the most deprived areas in the UK.. and there is alot of junkies about..

i never said incase you didnt read my post. i didnt say that all homeless people have a habit.. i said i feel its a catch 22 when i meet a homeless addict..

and anyway i think allmost every homeless guy or woman ive met has been a skaghead...

i have no trust for anybody who has been on serious gear. doesnt matter if its crack, herion. the hard # turns people into #ing monsters when they cannot get there fix..

maybe tripplesod is a lucky person. but every single smackhead i know personally has loads of convictions mainly theft, twocing, ahb, gbh, most have served more than about a 1/4 of my life in prison..

i have no sympathy for some drity smackhead.. but when i think giving them money might stop them seriously beating up a pensioner for her/his pension maybe feeding there habit is not a bad idea..

think what you want.. i dont care what you think.. i have seen and know smackheads that are right animals..

i could pay a smackhead 50 quid and he would go and stab somebody for me... because thats how desperate they are where i live/lived...

i even have relations that are criminal junkies...

i think i know what im talking about maybe ive had a different experence to you.. but read my posts word for word properlly please..



[Edited on 30-10-2003 by The Blade Runner]

Originally posted by triplesod

Originally posted by The Blade Runner
but sometimes i think maybe giving an addict some money might stop him/her mugging an old lady a few hours later because he/she cannot afford her fix...

so its catch 22.. i have given money to homeless addicts.. but not recently...

Rubbish!

You have no idea what you are talking about.

Firstly, how the # do you know these people have any habit whatsoever?

its obvious, once youve spent a long time around smackheads you can tell when somebody is a smackhead..

ok. Maybe i was being a little sensitive there. I will tell you that my group of friends who have heroin addiction, myself too, has never ever hurt anyone for a bag. Just because you have caused problems for yourself gives you no right to cause problems for anyone else! That simple and something all my friends live by.

OK, I do know a lot of smakchead with lots of convictions, i was with a girl just yesterday who has just been let out of teh nick only to get gripped again shoplifting with a tag and will be straight back in by next week.

BUt this # about battering old women is a myth. You have to be a very evil p[erson to do that and if you are that evil then it doesnt matter if you have an addiction or not.

The people who I know who get there money through illegal measures are into shoplifting, robbing a dvd from Asda or seomthing. I suppose if I know that someone is into burglary or mugging then I avoid them, so therefor I dont know those type of people.


Once more for the record, I and my close friends do not rob or steal, we just end up with all our possesions in Cash generators (pawn shops). I used to have over a thousand CD's now i have probably a dozen, teh ones the pawn shops wouldnt touch.



And for the guy in Kent. Maybe i should have been clearer but the Posh middle class bit was a wind up, I am sure I said something in that sentance that would let you see it was.

well its cool to see a mature attitude... about it this time... like i said maybe you are a credit to people with addictions because ive never met an addict as morally nice as you...

like i said maybe i have had different experiences with addicts...

i mean maybe i am biased because addicts stole from my grandparrents, or the fact that an addict hit my grandad with a machette.. or the fact my my addict relative abandoned her child.. or my friend allmost getting stabbed because she got in the way of somebody who wanted drugs..

i have just had bad experiences around drug users and people on hard drugs.. maybe i am genrilizing but i cant help it..

i think all drugs should be legal because it would probably stop alot of problems such as drug related crime ect ect..

i just think if i had a million quid and i gave it to some addicts they might OD, and stop hurting other people with their addiction.. and i think maybe it would be worth it sometimes...

Originally posted by stargirl
Blade runner you are a moron. There's just no reply to your stereotypical b*******

read my posts, if you think i am a moron, that is your perogative, but at least try and understand why i hold the veiws i have..

Originally posted by The Blade Runner

Originally posted by stargirl
Blade runner you are a moron. There's just no reply to your stereotypical b*******

read my posts, if you think i am a moron, that is your perogative, but at least try and understand why i hold the veiws i have..

Yeah, sorted and understood.

No wonder you feel as you do. To be honest, generally I hate smackheads, I wouldnt call myself a smackhead because a smackhead (to me) is a different type of creature entirely but I am sure if I had been through what you have then I woudl have a hell of a lot of anger inside me.

But at least something gtood ahas come from this, I am sure you will never have a toot or a dig if offered, so in that respect you are lucky to have teh choice already made for you. You wont have any of teh pain that myself and thousand smopre around teh world feel veryt frequently.

Thank god for Methedone!!