Ignore the beggars totally don't feel guilty just walk on by, if they ask for spare change just say NO!
as for bi=uskers ,if you are enjoying what they do then 50p or a £1 will do just fine, again don't feel guilty about passing by and putting nothing in the hat.

I saw one in York and 4-5 in Edinburgh.

If you only saw 4-5 in Edinburgh you missed quite a few and on top of that there's the myriad of Big Issue sellers.

As for donating to beggars - never and I only donate to buskers if a) they are good or b) they know how to play something jolly on the pipes

In principle, I personally don't donate to beggars. Real, professional, busking is a completely different thing. For a decent act, anything between £1 and $5 depending on what you've got on you and the quality of the act

There are other ways of supporting the homeless: the conventional British alternative is to buy EVERY edition of The Big Issue from their street sellers, and to make intermittent donations to Crisis, a charity specialising in working with the homeless. Both ensure your cash goes to food, shelter and real assistance for the homeless: straight donations to beggars inevitably increase their vulnerability to mugging and the temptation to spend the cash on drugs.

This rather pompous-sounding approach (the one recommended by most specialists) is a bit of a generation thing. Below about 35, it's much more common to just throw a few quid to an appealing beggar if it's spare in the pocket.

The world isn't going to end if you do - and two seconds' exposure to the realities of life at the bottom of the British pile shows you frequent, horrifying examples of how often the bureaucracy of our social security blanket prevents publicly funded assistance from getting to those most desperately in need when they most need it. A few quid against your better judgement every now and then is probably going to do less harm than good. But DO buy the Big Issue whenever you can.

This might have changed recently, but when I had a professional connection a decade or so back with State support for the homeless, having a dog slightly increased the cash benefit the government gave them - and in those days, slightly more than it cost to feed the dog. The dog doesn't (or didn't) just provide companionship, protection and donor appeal: it provided a small additional income.

Buskers - if I stop to listen/watch 50P to £2 (depending on what coins are handy), maybe more if I take photos/video.

Homeless - I buy at least one copy of the Big Issue every day. I never just give £/$ to beggars.

Hi S,

Never give money to a beggar. They make more money than you do.

See "The Man with the Twisted Lip" by A C Doyle

Thank you! You all have given me the voices of travel expertise and local knowledge I needed.

Next trip I plan to keep some 50p and/or £1 coin in a separate pocket so I am ready to quickly acknowledge the buskers (and not be reaching for the main coin purse and being distracted on the street while doing so).

I did see people offering the Big Issue and did not know what it was. Now I will be ready to buy some copies of that.

Thank you, again.

Personally i would buy some dog food for the poor dog
I have never given any money to beggars, but in some cases i bought them something to eat.

The Big Issue is a great thing, i wish we had something similar in Greece.

Many, maybe most, street musicians are playing "at" instruments. Every now and then you find a real winner. I've seen a few and like was said above, if I stop and listen for more than a few seconds then I will probably listen for a few minutes. They get paid, but they have to be good.

Here is a well known example of a world class violinist playing in the Washington Metro, just to see of people would notice. The one woman at the end did notice, in fact she was at his concert the previous night at the Kennedy Center...

Josh Bell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnOPu0_YWhw

dave

Oh, and read the associated Washington Post article. The violin he was using is his $3.5 million Gibson ex Huberman.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html

dave

I never give beggars, stateside or overseas, money.

I am certainly interested in what flanneruk and janisj say about The Big Issue--I had no idea and had never explored that. So next trip to the UK (June 2013--415 days I think!) I may follow their lead (as I have often found myself doing in things British).

As to buskers/street performers, if I stop and listen, which means that I must have found them to be worth some time, then I will "pay" for my "attendance" at their performance. Usually what coins I have, although I did leave a 5-pound-note once for a combo playing Celtic-ish lilts on a street in Winchester, who provided our lunchtime concert as we stood opposite them, eating fresh strawberries. Almost as soon as we walked away, I wished I had purchased their CD, but when we walked back down the street an hour later they were gone. Sigh.

I admit I don't give money to beggers. I do support a lot of homeless and food bank services through regular monthly/quarterly donations, so that's what I tell myself when I feel so guilty. And boy do I feel guilty!

Thank your for telling me about the Big Issue. I never knew about that, and it is exactly the method through which I would wish to contribute.

If I am touring somewhere and I see a charity in action that is meeting a local need, I sometimes donate on the spot or even end up including them in my regular charitable giving. I remember cycling past migrant workers in the state of Washington, amazed at how far north Hispanic people had traveled to support families. I mentioned that to the desk clerk at our hotel, and she said that's why she was involved in an organization called Casa Latina. They became one of my regular charities on the spot.

Buskers are a totally different thing. People who play nonsense get nothing, no even my attention. Skilled performers such as "Les Musiciens de Lviv" who play certain days at certain sites throughout Paris get a lot of cash from me. In fact, if I am in Paris on a Sunday, I always head for the Marais to find them.

Re CDs, as texasbookworm brought up, I'm tempted to buy but reluctant because of unreliable recording quality.

Buying busker music CDs (the ones you stopped to watch cos you liked them) make useful souvenirs of the places or moments you've enjoyed while on a holiday. I have several and while I may not listen to them as frequently now as I did in the months following my trips, some of them can grow on you.

Let us be absolutely clear about the British benefits system. It is incredibly generous and nobody should be anywhere close to what would be regarded as a world poverty level.

The average poverty level in Britain consists of 50 inch plasma screens, smoking/drinking until your body gives up and you are admitted to he local free 4 star hotel wich doubles as a hospital. Many here have developed a knowledge of our system which leaves them far better off than many of those who work.

Which leads us to buskers/beggars.

1. They probably will not have proper jobs
2. They probably will be part of the benefits system
3. They will not be declaring the income to the relevant benefit department
4. They will not be declaring the name to the tax authorities.
5. Many ( and I have seen this happen) can receive n excess of £100 a day, tax and benefit free.
6. They drive local business owners absolutely crazy with their inane music which is repeated 50 times a day.
7. Some are part of organised crime

I think you can see where I am coming from.

DickieG--I do understand where you are coming from. But as regarding buskers, I can tell you that in the US there are druggies who just play random stuff and then there are professionals (often ones approved by agencies in cities) who actually earn or add to their living this way. Two sons of my best friend are educated musicians who teach lessons, work recording sessions as back-up artists, and are part of a small but well-booked band. Still, busking pays their car payments!

And you do have a point about interference with business, but sometimes the presence of one or more GOOD buskers adds to an area draw. I know that when I go to Galway, the only reason I who hates to shop enters shops is that there are fabulous buskers in the shopping area.

I had mentioned Les Musiciens de Lviv. On Sunday, they play in the Place des Vosges outside shops that are closed on Sunday. So they do NOT interfere with immediate business, and yet they end up drawing a crowd to an area where shops are open a bit over. I'd say it is a win-win.

That said, DickieG, you brought up a VERY important point. Almost every time one buys fake stuff one the street, you have supported some sort of organized crime "charity." In case people don't know it, the worst and most rampant kind of shoplifting is essential to organized crime. Professionals lift goods, turn it in to a sorting area, and what you see as random "street" sales is actually the means of very monitored black market distribution. If one is going to feel guilty, feel guilty about THAT.

AZ

I think it is easy to generalise.

We have had school groups run a weekend of a string quartet to raise money for charity.

We also have a particularly caustic character who annoys everyone and wears black glasses to give the impression he is blind. We are aware he has a handler and suspect he is connected to criminal gangs.

My general point is that NOBODY in our country is poor in world terms. Some do slip through the net for whatever reason, they may have mental health issues and not have an allocated care system. As a result they may have become homeless. These cases are the extreme and very few. Generally, most under privileged in the UK are very privileged in world terms.

It may not be possible for US posters to appreciate how soft the blanket can be, that is wrapped around our so called poor.

GickieG
what is world poverty?
Someone who earns 200 GBP in Moldova may survive, could you survive with that in the UK?
Here is a link to an interesting article
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/dec/02/poverty-working-fmailies-with-children-uk

DickieG--I really do understand about annoying guys. We had a saxophone player on my husband's business block who made money only because local business owners paid him to stay away.

But I see NOTHING wrong with guys who have a skill that they paid for with hard work and talent who offer that up to the public--and the public gets to choose whether or not to reward them.

I mentioned those two sons of my best friend. They had lived a nice life, ironically as a result of their parents' working their way through college. Each boy's education cost at the very least 30K per year, and luckily, their night gigs and street busking paid for a lot of that. The boys were excellent students, well regarded by their professors. But the fact remains that musician gigs pay intermittently. They are MORE than willing to work 60 hours per week, so the problem is getting enough employment.

Ergo...
I just cannot feel guilty about helping any kid like them meet a car payment. Street busking is not going to make them millionaires.

BTW...
Kelly Clarkson was a street busker and a waitress.

There are no rules for buskers in the UK or US?
When i was living in Vienna, they were allowed to play for a limited time only, 20 min, if i remember well.
After that they were obliged to change place and not play in a distance less than 100 meters.
I remember the police taking that very seriously, and force them to move when they had exceeded their time.

"There are no rules for buskers in the UK or US?"

In the US, it is totally up to the local authorities. Some places are regulated, some are not, and in some - busking is illegal.

Clauser--Good question.

Rules, habits vary by locale in the US, and I'm sure they do in Europe. I know Paris police routinely rout Les Musiciens de Lviv, but my study-abroad daughter said they "report" to their differing busking locations on a regular basis. Again, I always see them in the Marais on Sundays. So I am assuming there's some sort of either legal or merely "accepted" limitation going on.

The only way I know that there are "approved" street artists for the New York City subway is because my daughter wrote an article on them. I don't know the details. And I have not a clue as the rules in my own city, although we are not a very good busker city (hence the annoying saxophonist).

Here is an article on busking in the US. Seems that it is considered free speech:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busking_%28U.S._case_law%29
And I thought this website, though dated, was cute:
http://www.buskerworld.com

I support many charities and organizations concerning poverty on 3rd world, child issues, abused women, animals etc. But in my country,Greece there are not so many organizations, and when there are, they are mostly focused on Athens and large cities. Government was never very supportive on those people : (
Homeless population seems to increase more and more here nowadays and you see people in real need around. When I was living in Belfast in Northern Ireland, I was buying the Big Issue when possible. There is no such thing here as clausar said. I give some coins to people who have are obvious handicapped for example missing an arm or a leg or have some very obvious mental illness. I often give them some food. Whenever I see a beggar with a child, I never donate money, because here in Greece it's a very common scam of organized crime. Usually gangs use this people, yes, but if people keep donate, then this will never stop. I try to buy a bottle of milk or a pretzel for the kid but never give money. Sometimes I give some spare cloths to homeless too. People begging inside metro with all sorts of excuses never get money from me.
Busking is a different matter. On some areas you may find really talented skilled individuals or bands. If I have some spare coins I usually donate. I do not donate on children- who play usually the accordion- because I think this is not what kids should do, and anyway usually they are awful. We have a long tradition with busking Gypsy kids here, and although I do not wish them to change their culture completely, it is common for them to beg, their kids grow up on the streets and rarely go to school and they never get a decent job but survive through busking or begging....

Clauser

It is very difficult to define poverty it changes over time and with geography. In a world which allowed free movement you could compare poverty. Clearly, Sudan and Norway are very different societies and the barriers to movement are huge. You just cannot compare an individual in Norway with one in Sudan.

However, you can draw up a list of conditions that, in view of the technological advances the human race had made, all humans should enjoy. Those basic conditions could include :

Enough food to be healthy
Warm shelter to remain safe and healthy
The provision of free basic health care to both prevent and cure health issues
The provision of some sort of education system

The absence of some of any of these conditions could indicate poverty.

No individual should, in the absence of choice, be subject to the removal of any of these basic conditions.

Some in the UK might add SKY TV and a daily six pack of Tennants Super to the list.

I think you could gather from the above that I have travelled a little and become a tad ******* off when some in the UK moan about being poor and yet still refuse to help themselves.

mariha2912 -- You are a saint! And you are so wise. Friends of mine who lived in NYC always asked for a doggie bag at any restaurant where they did not finish their meal and gave it to one of their favorite street people. Their view: a) The food would have gone into a dumpster and b) their favorite street people would have been dumpster diving for food anyway. As they said, they cut out the middle man.

Not quite charitable but then again very very thoughtful.

When we visited Mexico, we saw lots of notices NOT to give money to begging or singing or playing children. We're talking PLEADING notices that said "ON BEHALF OF OUR CHILDREN". You have emphasized mariha2912 just how important that is.

And DickieG, I can't quite get why you are so miffed at talented buskers.

I just do not see the harm in it, especially if they DRAW to local businesses. And they ARE working!!!!!!

I give beggars nothing - since many (most) are either druggies, alcoholics or mentally ill (and giving them money is only contributing to their problems).

If performers do a good job I generally make a contribution - depending on how good the performance is (usually 5 whatevers). Except mimes. I can't stand mimes and won;t give them a penny.