Britain’s shoplifting epidemic is nothing to do with cost of living crisis – here’s how we can stop it --[Reported by Umva mag]

“IF one of my colleagues gets in the way, there will be a violent threat. There might be a knife, there might be a syringe.

“I’ve had colleagues attacked with a medieval mace, we’ve had colleagues lose their eye, we’ve had colleagues miscarry.”

Jam Press Vid/@CrimeLdn

Pious do-gooders blame the ‘cost-of-living crisis’ for prompting people to do desperate things in desperate times – they are wrong according to Co-op boss Paul Gerrard[/caption]

Is this testimony from a soldier on the front line of the war in Ukraine? Or perhaps a police officer working the crime-ridden streets of Tijuana, Mexico — recently named the most dangerous city in the world?

Nope. It’s Paul Gerrard, the public affairs director of the UK’s Co-op supermarkets, telling the Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee what his staff have to put up with.

He revealed the stores have been hit with a 44 per cent rise in shoplifting and a 35 per cent increase in violence and abuse against staff in the past year.

Disgraceful. We are in the grip of a shoplifting epidemic and, while pious do-gooders (who clearly don’t work in supermarkets themselves) blame the “cost-of-living crisis” for prompting people to do desperate things in desperate times, Mr Gerrard paints a different picture.

We’re not talking about a hard-up pensioner stealing a tin of beans, but organised gangs who make their living pillaging stores because it beats having to get a proper job.

“What is driving an increase in people who are stealing to order huge volumes, people coming into our stores with wheelie bins, people coming into our store with builders’ bags to steal the entire confectionary section, the entire spirit section, the entire meat section?” Mr Gerrard asks.

The answer, according to Professor Emmeline Taylor — who studies and comments on shoplifting — is that criminals saw the introduction of the £200 threshold for store theft as a “licence to steal”.

In other words, we’re not talking about a hard-up pensioner stealing a tin of beans, but organised gangs who make their living pillaging stores because it beats having to get a proper job.

And they are doing it with impunity because they know damn well that the chances of being caught are minimal.

Professor Taylor, of City University of London, says that the 443,995 shop thefts recorded by police last year represents just 4 per cent of the 17MILLION store thefts reported by retailers.

And findings released last year showed that police didn’t respond to 76 per cent of the serious retail crime cases reported.

But there’s perhaps some good news on the horizon.

‘Turn the tide’

There is now a specific offence for assault of a shop worker, the troublesome £200 threshold is set to be scrapped and police chiefs are insisting that a centralised unit is set to “turn the tide” on the gangs.

MET Police

Criminals are pillaging shops with impunity because they know damn well that the chances of being caught are minimal[/caption]

Judging by Mr Gerrard’s description of staff being removed from their homes after being followed and threatened by offenders, the implementation of these changes can’t come soon enough.

With organised gangs now stealing cars, parcels, watches and entire food sections to order, this country is on the brink of becoming lawless to the point of no return.

Here’s to 25 more years of letting Loose

Rex

IT has been 25 years since Kaye Adams, Nadia Sawalha, Karren Brady and yours truly strode on set and said “Welcome to Loose Women” for the very first time.

It was only commissioned for a trial of four weeks, we wore our own clothes, and the set looked like an explosion in a Crayola factory.

But by the seat of our pants we successfully pulled off an hour of live TV without being taken off air.

And the rest is history. It kept being recommissioned and is now a daytime TV staple involving a roster of amazing women I’m happy to call my friends.

Back in 1999, Kaye and Nadia didn’t have any children (they each now have two) and my daughter Ellie was seven.

She’s now 32, and I missed the 25th anniversary show on Friday because I was attending her wedding in the stunningly beautiful city of Barcelona.

But I was there in spirit (and on a live link from a car park on the way to the wedding venue – oh the glamour) and will be at the National Television Awards tonight where we are nominated for Best Daytime Show.

Happy anniversary, Loose Women. You have been, and remain, a great friend to your many loyal fans, and here’s to the next 25 years.

I’ll be 87 then and likely retired, but you never know . . . 

Tour blimey, Harry

Getty

Instead of faux ‘royal’ tours, It would silence Harry’s critics if he simply got a proper, low-key job and started to enjoy the private life he claims to crave[/caption]

HARRY and Meghan enjoyed their quasi “royal” tour of Colombia so much that they are apparently planning another later this year, with Lesotho and Botswana as likely contenders.

“That’s his world; that’s what he’s used to,” a source tells Hello! magazine.

Yes, but it’s also the “world” he shunned and later criticised when he left these shores and hightailed it to California.

As the late Queen reportedly once told Harry, “Either you’re in or you’re out”, and he chose the latter.

So continuing to bolster “brand Sussex” by milking his royal connections is hypocritical.

It would silence his critics if he simply got a proper, low-key job and started to enjoy the private life he claims to crave.

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ONE in ten Brits is “excited” about wearing jumpers in the coming autumn.

Meaning that 90 per cent of us aren’t.

Besides, some of us have already been wearing them for a few weeks already thanks to our lousy summer.

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A mum’s right

A SURROGATE mother has won a landmark legal battle to see the son she birthed for a gay couple.

The two men had claimed there was “no vacancy” for her in what they described as their “motherless family” and even branded her “homophobic” for insisting the boy, now four years old, recognise her as his mum.

But here’s the thing. Whatever your thoughts on the rights and wrongs of this emotionally traumatic situation, there was a contract in place for regular contact and the couple reneged on it.

Worse, they were aided by their local council in pursuing cases aimed at cutting the boy’s mother from his life.

But a court has now ruled in the surrogate’s favour and made a “spends-time-with” order.

Good. You can’t ride roughshod over a contract simply because your feelings change.

It’s the fee in coffee

THE next time you hear a “millennial” saying they’re struggling to make ends meet because horrid “boomers” stole their financial future, remember that a survey has revealed they spend an average of £728 a year on fancy takeaway coffees.

Meanwhile, boomers aged 60 to 69 spend around £260.

Perhaps this is because the whole “cafe culture” just wasn’t a thing when we were growing up.

My mum favoured chicory-based Camp coffee (no thanks) at home, and pretty much the only other option in my town was from a vending machine, which tasted like a bucket of tepid water with one granule of coffee in it.

In the late 70s, my school friends and I were gathered around our usual table in Worcester’s Natural Break cafe when the owner asked us if we would like to try a new type of “frothy coffee”.

When it arrived, we stared in awe for several seconds, before dipping our five teaspoons into the creamy top and falling back in rapturous delight.

For me, shop-bought coffee like that was considered a “treat”.

Not a daily must-have.

Ricky’s a court jester

Getty

Ricky Gervais has been ruffling the feathers of his new neighbours – after applying for permission to build a tennis court at the £14million North London property[/caption]

RICKY GERVAIS is settling in to his new £14million home in North London but I doubt many of his neighbours will be popping round with a “welcome” pie.

Some are reported to be riled by his plans to replace a basketball court, waterway, pergola and retaining walls with a tennis court and spectator seating, saying it will result in noise and loss of privacy.

Ricky’s planning agent says the court will have no lighting and is designed to be visually and acoustically screened from neighbours, and Barnet council will make a decision soon.

But surely a precedent has been set by the existing basketball court, which is potentially just as noisy?

Presumably, it is currently disused, but if Ricky loses his case, he could perhaps exact revenge by inviting the Chicago Bulls over for an exhibition match in front of ardent fans?

Do not disturb

Mega

Chat show king Graham Norton with husband Jonathan ‘Jono’ McLeod[/caption]

GRAHAM NORTON has revealed that he got married to husband Jonathan “Jono” McLeod two years ago and, now 61, jokes: “At my age, ’til death do us part is more achievable.”

He returns with a new series of his chat show later this month, where he talks to some of the biggest stars in the world.

But Graham is never the story himself, preferring to fly under the media radar and spend much of the year living quietly in Ireland.

He is proof, if needed, that you can be one of the most recognisable faces on TV, but still lead a largely private life.

The following news has been carefully analyzed, curated, and compiled by Umva Mag from a diverse range of people, sources, and reputable platforms. Our editorial team strives to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information we provide. By combining insights from multiple perspectives, we aim to offer a well-rounded and comprehensive understanding of the events and stories that shape our world. Umva Mag values transparency, accountability, and journalistic integrity, ensuring that each piece of content is delivered with the utmost professionalism.