Parents and guardians must draw some comfort from the belief that providing their offspring with a mobile phone gives a level of safety.

To some extent that is a caring attitude to take, and in a responsible society it should pose no problems.

Sadly, in these 'must-have' days where theft appears to take precedence over working and saving, it is time to revisit that train of thought.

The national situation where people, especially the young, are being mugged for their mobile phones is reflected in Keighley.

Peer pressure is a powerful selling tool, but a big question must be raised over the need for children as young as eight to have such a phone - or fashion item - using them openly on the streets.

Mike Bower, of Keighley-based Link Telecom, is setting a great agenda for discussion on that issue.

He believes no child under 14 should be allowed to have a phone, and young people should be banned from taking them to school.

He rightly says it is a community responsibility, including retailers, the police and schools, to work together to minimise the value to thieves of taking mobiles.

Some schools have already taken a most responsible approach and have banned pupils from using their mobile phones. But the reality is that it is going to be a huge challenge to control the situation with hundreds of young people using the phones, mainly for the current craze of text messaging.

We can do little more than repeat the words of a senior detective - 'Parents say they want to be contactable and that their child should have a phone for safety reasons, but it fact what they are doing is putting the youngster at risk. The vulnerability placed on the child outweighs any safety benefit.'

The parental/guardian choice is clear fad or fist.