More than 50 per cent of women in Britain are scared of walking out alone in their own community after dark, writes Women’s Editor Tracey O’Sullivan. And in Shropshire education officials are proposing to close 22 of our village schools.
Is it a massive leap to connect the two? I don’t think so.
In fact I think the connection is getting all too close for comfort.
And it’s exactly why the battle raging in Shropshire at the moment is not just a parents’ fight. It is a war we must all enlist for.
Home secretary Jacqui Smith may have admitted a tad too much for her own good when she said she was afraid when out alone at night, but it was a wake-up call we all needed.
Of course she has since attempted to dampen down the flames by qualifying her comments to say it was certain areas of London which she was not familiar with where she felt vulnerable.
But she’s not kidding anyone.
We all know that Jacqui is struggling to make anyone feel safe these days - least of all women.
And her colleagues in government are not helping her cause with their insistent and continuous drive to fracture and disrupt what little sense of community we have left.
Step forward those who want to close what is left of any sense of collective responsibility in some of our villages.
The schools that have been listed are all good-performing schools with results they can proudly shout from the rooftops.
There is no question about that - these valuable institutions are doing their job day in and day out. And they are doing it well.
Judging by the tears, anger and raw displays of emotion since the announcement, they also have the support of parents, pupils and staff to keep doing what they do best.
That is also not in any doubt.
The children at these schools would be better off without the upheaval that they are now facing.
Even the number-crunchers cannot argue with that.
They may claim it is a necessary negative for the longer-term benefits, but they cannot say that moving schools will not disrupt the education of those youngsters involved.
Children are our future and deserve our protection; people, of whatever age, should be a priority over cash.
That is why we consider ourselves a civilised society.
All of this, to me at least, is obvious.
But it’s not the only reason we are facing a frightening situation.
While the education and welfare of these children, aged between five and eleven, is undeniably important it is not all we have to protect here.
It is also the fabric of our society which is crumbling and suffering as the powers that be dictate what is and what isn’t good for us, according to how much money they have decided they can spend in certain areas.
The breakdown in feeling a part of something has got to be at the heart of our problems with antisocial behaviour.
Because we are at risk of raising a generation who have no affinity with anyone, anywhere or anything outside their family.
They live somewhere as a family; shop somewhere else (the supermarkets have taken care of that one); and now it seems the authorities don’t care if they have to go to school somewhere else again.
In a country which is forcing so many variables on a family why would they care?
Why would they feel a sense of responsibility towards any particular community? Where is the connection going to come from?
How can we expect children to respect what or who is around them when the message they are being given is that money talks rather than people?
We all need to feel a responsibility for others and we need to show that to our children if we are to stop this slide into a society which is plagued by violence, particularly among teenagers.
Shropshire is lucky to still be a rural county - one where community matters. One where there is still a thriving network of villages and small towns.
It’s the reason most of these parents now fighting to save these schools moved heaven and earth so their children could go there in the first place.
They are the ones who still care - who are most likely to ensure their children will have a positive impact in the future. And they deserve the support of us all to do so.
If I’m honest, walking out alone at night is not something I do - but I think I still could in Shropshire without feeling too nervous.
But it won’t last long - not if we let them pull this particular rug out from under us.
I’ve done the school run with my stepson many times and we feel very fortunate that he’s at Lilleshall School. His school is not earmarked for closure, but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel the need to join this fight.
Because if we don’t we will all pay the price.
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