French stick

Our middle son, Rob, was home briefly for his 22nd birthday at the weekend. He set off back to Lille, where he's studying for a year, laden with two heavy bags.

It was just a five minute walk from the station to his campus room but on the way he was relieved of his iPod and his mobile phone by a mugger.

"I didn't really know what was happening at first. This guy was asking me for my papers," he said. Rob called for help when the mugger began shoving him about but no-one came to his aid even though there were plenty of people about - it all happened in broad daylight.

He couldn't fight back because of the heavy bags hung around his shoulders. "Besides the guy could have had a knife," he said. Rob is understandably angry and feeling somewhat jaundiced against the French. But the same could have happened on any street.

I know from bitter experience how upsetting this sort of thing is. You're being attacked in a public place with people all around you and, with rare exceptions, people don't help. It's the world we live in. At least he came to no physical harm and we're all thankful for that.