Sunday, February 20, 2011

A WASTEFUL SOCIETY

We live in a very wasteful society but surely this example of its wastefulness takes a bit of beating. Sacha Hall a 21 year old worker was arrested for taking ham, pies and waffles dumped in a caged dumpster at the back of a Tesco Express in Essex. "Arrested at home, she was handcuffed and marched to the police station, charged with the rarely applied crime of "theft by taking", for which she could receive a prison sentence." (Times, 19 February) Sacha who is on a low wage at another supermarket, said she was feeding her extended family. Wasteful? Tesco made a profit of £3.4 billion last year and yet some useful member of society risks a prison sentence for taking something out of their rubbish bin. Wasteful? The police, the courtroom staff and maybe even the prison wardens are spending their time dealing with "a dangerous criminal" like Sacha. RD

No comments: