JUST how far should we expect local and national government to protect people from themselves?
The question arises in the wake of the protests over Ladbrokes' plans to open a new betting shop in Derby.
Opponents are making particular play of the fact that many students live in the Monk Street area where the shop is proposed.
Many are under financial pressures and therefore "vulnerable", goes the argument, and therefore temptation should not be put in their path.
"Thousands of lives" could be ruined by the shop, it is claimed.
It gives the city planners an interesting moral dilemma.
Are betting shops more acceptable in certain areas than in others?
If they should not be sited in an area where lots of people on low incomes live, then should they instead be in places such as Allestree and Darley Abbey?
Like it or not, gambling is not illegal. People in all walks of life indulge themselves in it to some degree – whether it is once a year on the Grand National or every day on the horses or roulette wheel.
Nor are betting shops illegal and so local authorities need a water-tight planning reason, which would survive a costly appeal process, to turn them down.
You do not often hear of bookmakers getting into financial difficulties, which ought to convey its own blindingly obvious message to those punters who believe they can profit, long-term, at their expense.
Too often, of course, that message does not sink in.
But you would like to think that, having reached this stage of their academic careers, most students would have enough intelligence to recognise the dangers.
Even if the city council does heed the concerns of residents and of its own cabinet member for business, finance and democracy, Councillor Sarah Russell, refusing permission for this shop will hardly close off all avenues of betting for locals.
The explosion in internet gambling means you do not have to leave your own home to spend a fortune on sporting events or virtual casinos.
Ray Winstone and an assortment of other irritating characters offering "free" bets and the like also ensure there is no hiding place on television from the pressure to part with your cash.
Maybe the council will take what it feels to be a moral stance and refuse permission to Ladbrokes for this shop.
But that would also represent a gamble of its own – that it does not lose a costly appeal if Ladbrokes ups the stakes.