AN EPIDEMIC OF SHOPLIFTING
When it comes to stealing from shops, it’s honest customers who have to pay
True story. When I was a little kid a Woolworths pick-and-mix fruit salad sweet that had fallen on the floor in our local store happened to find its way into my pocket. I genuinely picked it up without even thinking. Big mistake. Huge. Mum and Dad interpreted that as shoplifting, which earned me a clip round the ear and a stern talking to from PC Harding, our local beat bobby.
‘KIDS BOAST ABOUT HOW MUCH THEY’VE NICKED’
Fast forward a few decades and not only have Woolies and local coppers you knew the names of disappeared, but proper shoplifting – waltzing out
