The middle society of my generation has barricaded itself in. They look out from their cosy fortresses in horror imagining the demons lurking in every corner waiting to get them - and the kids of course, especially the kids. With fear levels rising they demand an ever-increasing degree of security from the authorities against the demons in their heads.

It used to be different. People in the old communities were constantly rubbing against each other. Historically this arose from necessity. Survival depended on huddling. I don't mean to romanticise the old world. Life was grim. It was no model way. But at least they had to reckon with each other in a more immediate manner. They needed to have trust without guarantee. This has all but disappeared in favour of controlled exclusivity. This diminishes trust beyond the systemised kind. It might be fair enough if systems were good. But they tend not to be. There is still a need for individuality and spontaneous, unregulated existence. Intuitive trusting and mistrusting is still a requirement. The lower society remains more inclined to this way of life. Being more deprived as they are, they are more amenable to commune. They have more to gain from it than lose. They are less afraid of those in their vicinity. In this sense they are still party to the traditions.

I lived in Leith for a while just outside Edinburgh. It was an oil and water mix of cultures. The middle class professionals existed alongside the indigenous lower order. The gentrification of Leith had seen flash offices open up for architects and designers. The Scottish Office built a huge headquarters. The Royal yacht Britannia was stationed there on its retirement. There was even an art gallery. This contrasted the high-unemployment, low-opportunity, historical Leith. The two didn't mix. The professionals used to dart from their cars to their offices and back again nipping out for lunch in the car if it was more than a hundred yard trip. They operated in social cocoons. The people who were actually on the street, who inhabited the public space, were from the high-rises. And they were scary.

I think the Leith example mirrors the wider society. Increasingly the public space is occupied by the scary people, those who are cast to the wings of the franchise. The middle societies look out at them from their privileged perch. They ferry their kids everywhere cosseted in conveyance corridors in case they should chance upon the scary people. They are rearing a cotton-wool generation unable to properly negotiate the world it will inherit. It will find the ordinary trials of life more difficult as a consequence. It will be no model society either. Even more scary.