Jacqui Smith has a fear. The home secretary, in an interview with The Sunday Times, admits that she would not feel safe walking around Hackney, east London, at midnight. Not that she thinks this is unusual. “I just don’t think that’s a thing that people do,” she says. Then, not to be unfair on Hackney, she adds that she would not walk around late at night in Kensington & Chelsea. Finally, to show none of this should be seen as criticism of her government’s record, she adds that she has always been afraid to walk the streets of London at night.

What are we to make of this? Some will say it is refreshing to hear a home secretary admit there are places where policing fails. Aides said that she had recently popped out for an evening kebab in Peckham, southeast London, although any woman would feel safe doing so accompanied by the bodguards that shadow her every move. How about her admission that she has never felt safe on the streets at night? Home secretaries are supposed to strike fear into the hearts of criminals, not cower behind net curtains. As for her suggestion that nobody walks the streets of Hackney at midnight: politicians may get out of touch but this takes it to new levels.

The home secretary was reflecting what ordinary people know only too well; violent crime has risen sharply under this government. Polling in London shows that nearly half of people feel unsafe in their own neighbourhoods. Nor is this just a phenomenon of the capital. Garry Newlove was at home in Warrington, Cheshire, when he heard his wife’s car being vandalised. Within minutes he was kicked to death by youths, one of whom had just been released on bail. The home secretary should not just admit that our streets are not safe – she should do something about it.