So their Africa has wonderful architecture but no roadside rubbish dumps, lively streets but no beggars, plush New York-style apartments but no shanty towns.

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"That beggars belief to me that no one turns round and says enough's enough, stop getting deeper, you can't even pay back what you've got already, " Mr Colbourne says.

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However, there are no local services that are targeted specifically at helping street beggars.

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Lowry painted the working poor and, more and more, strange beggars and cripples against featureless backgrounds, yet he had no obvious political agenda.

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But beggars can rarely afford to choose, and local officials make no apologies.

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