I was sitting at a pavement caf in Old Compton Street in Soho a few days ago.

My wife and I had just seen a marvellous show and a member of the cast had joined us for drinks so we could tell her how wonderful she was. You know how it goes.

It was a jolly, late evening gathering among the London theatre crowds - until the beggar arrived.

I politely refused his request for some 'loose change'. A second request a few minutes later drew a less polite response, and I assumed that was the end of it. But he must have been hovering close by to pick up my name from the table conversation.

'Hey, John,' he growled in my ear. The combined smells of stale urine, rancid sweat and alcohol were foul.

As I spun round in my chair, he backed off mumbling 'Don't hit me John, don't hit me.' I had no intention of hitting him. Maybe he was just fishing for a little public sympathy.

Only minutes later, he lunged at my wife shouting 'Give us a kiss darlin',' before finally disappearing to another crowded caf further along the pavement.

All right, I know it was a mundane event of a kind happening in many city centres, particularly in Brighton.

But why should we put up with it? Why should we be so complacent about allowing such detritus to roam the streets unchallenged?

Easy questions perhaps, but the fact is we have been unable to come up with the right answers since we started trying during the first Elizabethan age.

Parliament introduced a law in 1531 saying beggars should be whipped and sent back to their birthplace. Slowly, amendments were made.

First offences could draw sentences of two years' slavery and the burning 'through the gristle of the right ear.' It got even tougher.

By the end of the 16th century, magistrates could order the hanging of persistent offenders.

But in 1824 a new, more humane Vagrancy Act was introduced under which it was not even possible to send beggars to prison.

Which brings us to August 2003, Manchester and the case of Leonard Hockey, a professional beggar with a record of no less than 97 arrests who spends £22,000 a year on heroin and crack cocaine.

Rather than whipping him or burning through the gristle of his right ear, we are giving him money via legal aid to defend himself against an application by Manchester City Council for an injunction banning him from begging on the streets.

This is a civil action avoiding the weakness of the police, criminal courts and the Vagrancy Act. Leonard Hockey can go to prison for two years for contempt of court if the injunction is granted and he persists with begging.

So, one more question. Are you surprised the police show little interest in beggars and magistrates are resigning from the courts in droves?