THE record-breaking donations that were made to food bank charity the Tressell Trust are a heart-warming example of human kindness.

Although it would be a great thing if Britain were a country where food banks simply did not have to exist, that is not the world that we live in.

And given that they do exist, it is good that they are so warmly supported.

All too often families find themselves needing such assistance because they have fallen foul of the Byzantine complexity of the social security system.

It sometimes seems as if that system has been overtaken by its own complexity.

Clearly, in a world with limited resources, the state cannot afford to hand out money left, right and centre, without any checks at all. There are definitely people who are perfectly capable of bilking the system.

But there are many more who are not, and they should not have to jump through hoops to get the help that they deserve.

There must be some mid-point that can allow for the provision of the assistance that is needed, while balancing that with an acceptable level of protection against fraud.

This is something that we are not hearing very much of from politicians, who seem to be locked into a continuing and multiplying series of tussles over the B word.

But it is to be hoped that when that particular imbroglio has been seen to, they will turn their attention to looking at this and related ideas, and come up with some kind of solution, or series of solutions, which address those issues.

That is, after all, what they are paid to do, not to indulge in personality-fuelled rows, self-aggrandisement, or any of the the other dysfunctional behaviours that disfigure the political scene, no matter how much they sideshows are slavered over or encouraged by the mass media.

It is time to call for a new maturity in British politics, which is by now sorely needed.

Politicians must realise that they are where they are where they are to serve the public, not to rule it.

Their relatively high status in society has to be earned, not just assumed as a natural right.

Following such a course is the only way that the British political world can restore its reputation in the eyes of the people.