Society? What society?

All it takes is a little bit of snow.

I quite like snow, as long as I can look at it through a window. It is when I have to walk up the street, catch the bus, stand on the platform and wait for a train, that I don't like snow so much.

And what surprises me a little more each year is how few people nowadays clear the bit of pavement in front of their houses or in front of their shops. I will excuse the elderly and the infirm of all ages. But even in households with several able-bodied adults, very few come out with a shovel or a broom and make the little effort to be community-minded.

And what enrages me is how many of those who make no effort to clear the pavement, do make a considerable effort to clear their drives, so their cars can get easily in and out. That's what matters nowadays - the car. Not the pedestrian.

So when our government invokes the Big Society, I know that there is no such thing, just the blinkered selfishness that the same government represents.