Because we hate them - or at least we hate seeing them. They fill us with confused emotions, they are an affront to the kind of society we want to be. In the early 80s the sudden shocking emergence of young beggars was the perfect symbol of Thatcherism. Shots of the cardboard city at Waterloo were de rigueur for every foreign film crew visiting Thatcher's Britain - and that is why Tony Blair has to get rid of these pimples on the face of his great society. The question is whether it can be done by enticement, inducement and kindness alone.
Beggars are probably the only point of contact most people ever have with the welfare classes.
And the sight of sturdy young beggars under high street bank machines brings out the Blimp in even gentle souls. Presumably they are begging to feed a drink or drug habit. If we stopped giving money to beggars, they would stop begging. Some homeless don't beg, some beggars aren't quite roofless, but nine out of ten of the public surveyed by the government said they would be angry if they found they had given money to a non-homeless beggar. With excellent intentions the government will offer them all a roof, long-term treatment, a job and a way back into the fold.