imogen: Giving the homeless our out of date groceries seems to me patronising and insulting, and just reinforces the perception that they are an underclass. This is only a short-term remedy. What can be done long term?

John Vidal: Imogen. Youêre right. It is patronising. But I think there is a real emergency out there. The scale of the need for good food is huge now. The food the supermarkets and others are chucking out is not bad. Its just wasted. The problem is do we give the food out or let it rot? That's a hard one. Ideally the government would address the issue of food poverty and the shops would get their act together and waste less. But until they do, we have this crazy situation.