Protecting citizens - State may not be doing enough

In an ideal world an individual would never have to confront an intruder in their home. In an ideal world the courts system would impose the kind of sanctions that would deter most criminals from relatively petty crimes such as burglary or fuel theft.

In an ideal world our prison system would have the capacity to guarantee that any custodial sentence handed down by our courts could be served in full. In an ideal world every citizen, no matter how remote their home, should be able to feel that they can get police protection or support within a reasonable period of time.

But, as events of recent weeks have shown, we live in a far from ideal world. The spate of attacks on homes, and especially the attacks on elderly people living alone, has pushed this subject, a hardy if unwelcome annual, back onto the public stage.