Saturday, October 21, 2006

Are you a middle-class criminal? / Financial Times, 20 Oct 2006

http://digbig.com/4nkky
Richard Tomkins
"Working late at the office, you are loading some more paper into the printer when you suddenly remember you have run out of A4 at home. “Well,” you tell yourself, “I’m working overtime for nothing, so I’m owed.” Thus exonerated, you unlock the stationery cupboard and help yourself to a pack of 500 sheets – followed by a roll of Sellotape, three pens and a Pritt stick. This, of course, is an act of pure, unvarnished theft. If you were caught nicking the stuff from Ryman, the police would come and arrest you. But somehow, the middle classes have managed to persuade themselves that when they commit a crime for personal gain, it is not the same as when the criminal classes do. So they lie, cheat and steal with abandon." [Sub Required]