In their response to the Mumbai terrorist attack, it has been possible to accuse England of a certain paranoia. Now I wonder if we have reached the stage of self-indulgence.
The request for commandos — the Indian SAS — to be on permanent duty when England resume their suspended tour with Tests in Chennai and Mohali has taken our cricketers to levels of security that even India's prime minister would be grateful for.
Are commandos really necessary? Do they represent sensible levels of protection or do they feel uncomfortably like style accessories for the rich and famous? When is an absolute need for duty of care overtaken by the overwrought fears of sporting celebrities who have taken a brief and disturbing look at the real world and don't like what they see.
England's players were understandably shaken by the atrocities in Mumbai — sorry, Dr Dominic Cork, I will not accept your assurances that they were "traumatised" — and every player has a right to make a personal choice.
But there are risks in many professions. Airline pilots fly, nurses face infections, chief executives have heart attacks, construction workers fall off scaffolding, miners die of silicosis, journalists drink themselves into an early grave. England cricketers occasionally go to India. And what's more, on average, they can earn around £500,000 a year to do it.
I have whiled away the past few days in Goa, awaiting England's return, and occasionally Kevin Pietersen's emotional comments upon leaving Bhubaneshwar have floated into my mind. You know, the description of how players used up mobile phone batteries, talking to their distraught children who were asking: "Daddy, where are you? What's happening? Are you OK?"
It made a great story, but was at the very least a questionable peddling of a child's concerns. A better example of the children we should be thinking about came in the form of Moshe Holtzberg, the two-year old orphan of the Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivka, both murdered in the attack on a Mumbai Jewish centre, who cried out "Ima" and "Dada" to his dead parents at a remembrance service this week.
Of course some of England's cricketers are worried. They are young men whose lives rarely stray outside the cricketing world they inhabit. They were disturbed by what they saw. They and their families deserve reassurance, protection and a measure of sympathy.
But can we please keep it in perspective. Save the bulk of your concern for those who died in Mumbai, and for the families and friends who are mourning them.
