TRY as I may, I'm finding it impossible to erase the appalling story of Worcester's Timberdine Stores from my mind.

As reported in your Worcester News, the owners are now looking at new ways of earning a living after thugs and yobs virtually closed down their business.

I can only wish them well. Yet I do wonder why on earth this charming couple are even entertaining the idea of staying in a city that has treated them so badly.

For although their off-licence enterprise was physically wrecked by local hooded scum, it was not just these racist low-lifes who were to blame. Oh, no. For the individuals who seemingly turned a blind eye must also share some of the guilt.

I accept that the police visited the shop owners when requested. Having said that, there is no doubt that a stronger beat presence in the Cherry Orchard area might have gone some way to deterring these criminals.

One might also ask where our local representatives were while all this was going on. Surely politicians could have stopped conducting their feuds for just a moment or two and realised something had gone very wrong within a mile of Worcester Guildhall?

I don't recall hearing the views of our MP, either. This is strange, for Mike Foster is talking a lot about racism these days. Maybe he didn't see the article in the paper - a colleague tells me that he doesn't always read your Worcester News.

And before you start foaming at the mouth Mike, cast your mind back to a certain recent murder trial.

Regardless of the details concerning this squalid matter, the fact remains that it is an indictment of this city if a young couple cannot set up a business without it being brought to its knees by criminality.

It is indeed a measure of how low we have sunk. The case of Timberdine Stores should now therefore be borne in mind whenever you hear the self-righteous cant that so routinely masquerades as truth spouting from the mouths of those who seek to influence our destinies.