Kate Stewart: It beggars belief ...

Sir Bob Jones caused upset with his idea of making begging in the street illegal.

You can always rely on Sir Bob Jones to stir the pot.

His comments last week about banning beggars certainly sparked some debate.

With his beloved boxing gloves on, he took a huge swing at the our country's most vulnerable ... but was it below the belt? Could his punch have been better directed?

Strapped for cash and down on their luck, street beggars are not a good look for any country, but sweeping them from the pavements to under the carpet isn't really going to solve anything.

However, begging now exists well beyond the streets of our towns and cities. Thanks to the internet and mainstream media, it has become so much more sophisticated and complex these days.

As with anything originally designed and destined for good, the greedy and criminally-minded inevitably find a way to abuse and exploit it.

You no longer have to suffer outside on a street corner, dressed in rags - you can beg from the comfort of your own home. And not just to passers-by but to the entire world.
For some, it's a fulltime enterprise, complete with daily blogs, pics and postings.

I can't keep count of how many stories I've read or heard about fake fundraising appeals with parents going to extraordinary lengths to prey on the kindness of others - shaving their kids' heads to give the appearance of chemo treatment and/or doctoring medical forms and using other people's scans and X-rays to make their plight appear more authentic.

There have even been extreme cases where children have been deliberately starved to give them a more sickly appearance. It's this sort of begging that needs to be stopped.
You only have to go to our own Givealittle website to get an idea of what's going on.

There seems to be a distinct lack of fact-checking and site moderation. Anyone can post a page for just about any reason and you're simply taken at your word. Nadine Lomu's short-lived attempt at a page serves as one such example.

Mainstream media play a huge role, too, grabbing hold of an emotive story and giving it mass publicity while offering links to fundraising sites or posting numbers on screen you can text donations to.

I suppose it must be good for ratings and readership but I can't help but wonder how the media get hold of these stories in the first place. Would they not be a little suspicious, or at the very least concerned about the motives of individuals approaching them for such publicity?

I remember reading a local story of a single mother whose son had items stolen in a burglary. There was a follow-up story two or three days later of a generous local who happily offered up some gifts for the boy, but the mother's response was one of ingratitude as she continued to complain about the lack of a laptop computer.

I'm not saying that all appeals are bogus - in fact, most are genuine and worthy of the coverage - but a far greater level of discretion is required. Pockets are only so deep and if people choose to give so generously, let it be to the right people for the right reasons.

Sir Bob has every right to pack a punch but this time I think he missed the mark ... #ibegtodiffer.

■Kate Stewart is a politically incorrect columnist of no repute who has not yet resorted to taking to the streets - your feedback is welcome: investik8@gmail.com