IT'S our educated guess that many people sitting comfortably in their homes across the Faithful City will read today's Page 2 story about Magg's Day Centre and wonder what it might have to do with them.

That would be understandable. After all, the centre's desperate need for larger premises - to sleep 25 homeless people, rather than 12 - doesn't touch the lives of the majority.

But it would also be short-sighted. Whether we care to acknowledge it or not, the people who may cause us to recoil from shop doorways aren't exclusively there because they know that the Welfare State often makes them profitable places to be.

Those places are home to people for whom the pressures of modern living have become too great, who no longer have the strength of mind to deal with problems, or who can't wrap themselves in the duvet of a reliable bank balance.

Eighteen months ago, we made the identical point when the Centre needed a rapid cash injection to pay its way.

Last month, readers were horrified at the thought of traders calling for the homeless to be swept from the streets, in case their presence offended those spending Christmas cash. We made the point again then.

Today, news of the Centre's need for a move coincides with a declaration that its Christmas Box appeal was a massive success. How encouraging that is.

We've often remarked that the most pertinent question we could pose is this: What would Worcester do without Maggs?

The answer remains the very reason why it must be allowed to prosper.