Is it right to...

[Meredith]

There are people out there with obsessive compulsive disorders who are justifiable in their need for help. The vast majority of those who steal are just individuals who feel that everyone else owes them a living, in my opinion. We all have a choice. If my family were starving then I would do all I could to deal with this, including stealing from those I felt could afford it.

I have never stolen anything. I live by the maxim, 'do as you would be done by' and 'you don't get owt for nowt'. Somebody has always got to pay the price and it it is not you right now, then rest assured it will come back to you.

[Merry]

If anybody asked me I`d probably say that I`d never stolen anything - but I still use a school pen, some years since I retired from teaching.
I`ve probably never purchased a paper clip but there`s a little pot of them on my desk.
I suppose photocopying the Allotment Committee minutes on the school photocopier counts as well. (Can`t do that now, darn it!)
And I took some wood out of a skip this summer - still legally somebody else`s property I suppose.
All right, I admit it - I`m a thieving b*gger!

[possum]

Also, if you steal from a company it makes less profit. Less profit = less tax. Less tax = less money for the NHS, schools, social services etc.

Less tax = less money the UK government has to spend on invading other countries and spending on nuclear weapons.

Not justifying stealing, but just that you argument is not entirely valid.

If there was a public campaign against a particular store for particular bad practices, then perhaps it could be justified, but stealing without making a point, well is just pointless.