CHARITY begins at home, they say, and that's fine with me.

But sometimes I wish it would stay at home, rather than accosting me in the high street and pressurising me into setting up a direct debit.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not adverse to giving to a good cause but I would rather choose my own than be harangued by a good-looking, fast-talking college kid who will do almost anything to get me to sign on the dotted line.

I know I'm not alone on this, even if criticising our well-meaning charities is something of a taboo.

We've all seen people cross to the other side of the street, hurry past ignoring the pleas of the charity touts or caught, squirming and uncomfortable as the guilt and common sense wrestle for control of their mind.

Once charity was about helping the weak and vulnerable but now it seems a number of these groups are actually preying on them.

They have taken a leaf out of some corporate handbook and now employ aggressive marketing.

And this is a far from efficient way to give money. In the vast majority of cases these street collectors with their clipboards and tabards aren't volunteers, they are employees taken on by a marketing company that has won the contract from the charity.

Before the charity even gets a glimpse of our cash the firm has taken its cut to cover wages and commission fees.

I can see why charities do it - even if they are not benefiting from the whole donation they are getting cash they would not have otherwise seen.

But to me it's a short sighted tactic which builds up resentment and undermines the goodwill these no-doubt worthy causes have built up over the years.

It is giving charities a bad name and making life difficult for the genuine volunteers who rattle their tins in the time honoured manner outside our supermarkets on a Saturday morning.

To these charities - just stop it, OK? Nobody likes being mugged, even if it's with the best of intentions.

SB