No, the world isn’t going to hell in a handcart. But yes, a good many items are being stolen – in plain view, with apparent impunity – from the shelves at Tesco, M&S and all the major high-street stores.
It’s a huge loss for the shops, and as political types discuss whether Britain is broken, a hot potato: a coming-to-a-store-near-you symbol of a nation in which so many feel that law and order is just a US cop show on Channel 5.
