In the 21st century we have become a nation of people who suspect the motives of others, more or less without thinking. A lot of this, I feel, is to be placed in the hands of New Labour, with their obsession with vetting and prying. Fifty years ago when I walked to the shops with my mother we would see a few people. Mostly our time was spent talking to the shopkeepers and saying hello to fellow customers. Shopkeepers were elert in those days to kids taking things, maybe the odd adult too.