Why do some Irish people think London is a lonely place? Im from here and i do not think that at all, i think the complete opposite. I suppose if you come from a small town or village with a few thousand people to London with millions it may be overwhelming for some.

The word charity makes it relevant and as for your statement that many are aware of Irish suicide rates in UK highest I don’t agree who are the many and what makes you such an expert.
Perhaps what you say is true I certainly don’t know if it is but perhaps the fact that the Irish have the largest and longest history of any immigrant group living in England may make sense of the statement. What about the Scottish numbers or the Asians or the Polish suicide numbers. What makes the Irish numbers so high is it being Irish in the UK or is it mental illness among the Irish generally and because your such an expert perhaps you could clear up that one. I lived in England for a number of years and loneliness was never a problem I had lots of friends English, Irish, Danish and French I did notice in the late eighties and early nineties some Irish and scots homeless which looked to me more of a problem related to alcohol addiction and related to an older generation of men perhaps labourers. Your statement that high street islington has more charity muggers than the whole of Dublin is just a load of crap. I have no problem with charity’s and the valuable work they do for me the problem is harassment everyday on Dublin streets and for many people it’s more attractive to visit Dundrum town centre where security makes sure that people aren’t being jumped on by chuggers and beggars and thieves. For Dublin the issue is becoming bigger and bigger and rules are needed otherwise watch as people will continue to move to the shopping malls and avoid a city centre full of hassle. If I were a business paying very high rates to the council I would be demanding that rules are put in place to stop the harassment of visitors to the city centre.

Do you belive this charity collects in this manner on the street? or do you just have no interest in making a comment that has any real link to the article.

@Bilbo – I wondered the same thing.
@Stefan – if you want some backup to statements, a simple request without attitude (and with some punctuation) might yield some response.

Ethnic minorities from India and South Asia have the highest suicide or attempted suicide in the UK.

Having worked in Islington, there are more charity collectors on Upper Street than the whole of Dublin. They target Islington because it is a relatively wealthy area. And how is this relevant to the article really?!

Islington is also a very poor area, lots of deprived places in the borough. It is the 5th most deprived borough in the city, 14th in the country. You say there is more charity collectors on Upper Street than the whole of Dublin. Come on that is nonsense.

I live in Tower Hamlets which is fairly poor and Wapping is quite affluent, yet I don’t see charity campaigners out there? Pockets of most London boroughs have well off areas. The area around Angel, Canonbury etc is well off in fairness. There are lots of charity collectors on Upper Street, from animal charities to Macmillan British Red Cross etc, much more than what I’d see on Grafton Street. Maybe Islington Council are pissed off because they usually perch right outside their council building ha! I usually just say no thanks to them, they honestly don’t bother me in the slightest. I’ve seen people verbally attack them in the street ffs! Stefan, maybe you should lobby Dublin City Council if that is the case? Obviously I’m clearly no expert. Mark, you are right about Indians and South Asians but the Irish often fall into the ‘White’ category and are not properly documented in ethnic monitoring. Plus Irish Travellers are not included in the ‘White Irish’ category either, they have high rates among both men and women, whereas data on the Irish suggest men suffer the most. From my experience, alot of Irish migration was extremely unplanned and sudden, a big change in environment can affect your mental health. I’ve met many older people that decided one day to head to England on a cattle boat and they were there on the same night!! I have personal experience in working in this area (albeit not working in social services in London for that long). All just my own take on it, trying to get to grips with all this ethnic monitoring in services myself at the moment…not easy!

I do agree with you Islington around the angel does have alot of charity organisations on the streets. I was in Dublin a couple of weeks back and i was bombarded by different charities on the streets. One street had at least 20 people for the same organisation, and they were very vocal. The first guy i put €2 into the bucket but then as i walked up the street you have all the others looking for money. It can be very annoying. On Grafton street they had got an animal charity on the street also. They had many dogs with them. I found charity collectors in Dublin more in your face than in London & i live in London all my life.

I have seen animal campaigners right outside the entrance to N1 Shopping Centre right beside Lloyds with dogs, handy way of getting animal lovers and kids to give money in their perspective….nothing says giving like a cute dog! The reality is that charity collecting is an area that has constant employment, not only because of the high turnover of such a job (people would often do it for a few months and leave) but also because of the pressure from big charities to increase their revenue stream, hence why we’re seeing more on our streets.

I agree Stephan I don’t like the collectors every day either. I just feel that the meer mention of a charity is a tenuous link . Suicide prevention and research is something we need to support, its a horrible experience to be visited on any family (never mind the victims) and I just feel maybe it would be a more constructive path. To suggest ways to give them support rather than giving comment on something that they probably don’t even do.

So caution THEM by sending THEM an email about people being sick of it. You don’t even know if this charity engages in street collecting and you’ve addressed it in 3 (at least) comments now. Certainly spent a lot more time on it than the FUNCTION of the charity.