It’s a long-standing and cherished belief of left-liberals that most theft is caused by poverty and desperation, and that a rise in prices will necessarily lead to a rise in stealing by the poor and needy. It’s a shibboleth wheeled out every time this country faces a recession, cost of living crisis or feels the fallout from wars abroad. What’s less candidly admitted is that people will always use these crises as a pretext to steal for reasons that are age-old and less forgivable: because they are immoral and because they are greedy.

People will always use these crises as a pretext to steal for reasons that are age-old and less forgivable

People will always use these crises as a pretext to steal for reasons that are age-old and less forgivable

There has been a surge in fuel theft at forecourts since the US-Iran war, according to a report in the Times this weekend. Data from 500 filling stations in the UK shows that the value of daily thefts has risen by 27 per cent since the conflict began in February.

Given that the epidemic of shoplifting has already become this year’s established news theme, this is not shocking to read. What might be surprising to hear is that many of the perpetrators aren’t poor or needy at all.

According to Forecourt Eye, a........

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