I GET the bus to Swindon every day for work. So, by way of a change … I got the bus to Swindon at the weekend. In case you’re not familiar with the layout of a Stagecoach double-decker, there are a couple of lift-up seats just behind the stairs that are designed to accommodate a pushchair. There’s another space on the other side of the bus that can also take a pushchair or two if it’s not being used by someone in a wheelchair. The next seats are available for anyone but are primarily for those with mobility issues. A couple of ladies had the seat by the wheelchair bit, one of them was walking with a stick. In the seat opposite, there was a lady who, albeit not in the first flush of youth, seemed to have no trouble walking. She was sitting on the outside of the seat – a capital offence on a crowded bus but this one had plenty of spaces. It’s a common enough ploy for those who don’t want to share a seat; we all like our personal space and we all have our own idea of what that is.

After a few stops, a young mum got on. She had one child in a buggy and one who was walking although I doubt if that nipper was four yet. The young mum parked the buggy in the space and sat the older child on one of the tip-up seats. This left her with nowhere to sit herself. Or rather, she would have if the lady on the outside had moved over or, better still, moved to the empty seat immediately behind. So the younger lady, not wishing to be separated from her children, was obliged to stand for most of the journey. It’s one thing wanting your own space but this was plain selfishness. Maybe it’s not a big deal in the grand scheme of things but it’s one of those little irritants that get your goat.

As I get older, I find that there are more and more of these. Noisy eaters, Chelsea FC, people who let their dogs foul the pavements. None is going to bring our society to its knees but they rankle.

Another is the misuse of the word ‘people’ in an attempt to buy popularity by claiming a connection that is tenuous at best. We’ve got the “people’s tenor”, we’ve had the “people’s princess” and the BBC is always coming out with a “people’s history” of something or other. Facebook is full of groups calling themselves the people’s this or the people’s that and these self-appointed guardians are always demanding something in the name of the people. Despite the fact that they are spectacularly unrepresentative of said people.

So when I read that our MP, Claire Perry, had accused a member of the “People's Assembly” of assaulting her, admittedly via a tap on the shoulder, my sympathies were instantly with our elected representative. The “People's Assembly” assembly is doubtless a well-meaning and earnest group, far removed from the image I have of them. But they do themselves no favours. The name conjures up visions of the “People's Front of Judea”, the “Judean People's Front” and the “Tooting Popular Front”; hardly groups that inspire respect.

Sure it was ‘only’ a tap on the shoulder, but most of us would view that as an antagonistic and disrespectful gesture – and an invasion of our personal space. If I had been the tappee, I would have been tempted to suggest that the tapper go forth and multiply. Others might have chinned them. And yes, I know that Wiltshire Constabulary says it wasn’t a police matter. But it’s been well publicised how they are ‘reprioritising’ what many of us would view as police matters.

When all’s said and done, personal space matters to us, but that’s it. When it comes to space, far more important is it that we, as a county, have found some space for refugees from Syria. There’s hope for us all.