The UK government is thinking of renaming 'shoplifting' to 'shop theft' to help avoid trivialising the epidemic of stealing in the UK - a problem also faced in the USA and not just on the streets of Washington NG (National Guard).

Instead why not call it what it is: stealing.

And start to empasise that stealing from shops is bad for everyone: non-stealing, paying customers, small business shopowners and the culture as a whole.

And while we are at it:

• shoplifters are thieves
• shoplifted items are stolen goods

Stealing has been steadily undermined as a socially-unacceptable crime.

First it was renamed 'nicking', which doesn't sound as bad - as in 'Let's nick a few Mars bars'.

Then a concept of value was introduced, for example in California where stealing something from a store valued at less that $950 is now a misdemeanor. And people who steal are not thieves but 'victims' of society.

In today's 'I must have it' materialistic world, the concept of stealing seems to be met with a Meh! Who cares? kind of response.

Soon it will be socially acceptabe for everyone's shopping bag to contain a mix of paid-for items and shop thefts.

A new kind of 'basket of goods' to base the consumer price index (CPI) on.