The Wider Image: Homelessness: Christmas on the streets of London
Outside London's Piccadilly theatre where tickets cost up to 110 pounds and a banner advertising the musical "Annie" reads "It's a hard knock life", Bryan and Kevin sleep in small tents on the street. They are among almost 1,000 people who sleep rough in the British capital, according to official figures, while more than 4,000 are on the streets across the country every night. Bryan, who last year nearly died from pneumonia, became homeless after personal problems led him to drink and drugs. "It's worse than it used to be right now, but I think it's down to a lot of things," he says. "The way people are now - everything is going up and costing more and then the other stuff, services and care, humanity, it's going down." There is wide agreement that the problem has become worse in the last seven years, leading to criticism of the Conservative government's approach and accusations that its austerity policies, including changes to welfare payments for housing, are partly to blame. REUTERS/Mary Turner SEARCH "TURNER HOMELESS" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY. Matching text: BRITAIN-HOMELESS/