Medway Council cancels Christmas! Well, not quite. But the authority has taken the rather depressing step of scrapping its festive displays and switch-on events.

With an accountant’s hat on, it does make cold, hard financial sense. The council – like so many others right across the land – is increasingly skint. The leader has warned of a potential overspend of £17 million for this financial year.

But viewed with the heart rather than the head, it is a very sad reflection of what feels like an age of almost terminal decline in British public life.

How has this country become so poor – or poorly-run, you decide – that even the provision of seasonal lights feels like a luxury too far?

Understandably councils, which have seen their cash from Whitehall slashed in the era of austerity, have to focus their funds on those core statutory services which they have to deliver by law.

But what an impoverished society we will be living in if these little communal acts of joy fall by the wayside for the want of a few tens of thousands of pounds.

Lighting up our shopping precincts during December might not be enough to pull the high street out of its ongoing tailspin. The recent demise of Wilko shows that trading conditions in the retail sector remain tough. But decking the halls does provide a touch of festive cheer, and makes our town centres a more uplifting place during the darkest days of the year.

I’ll happily admit that no lights – however garish, however spectacular – are likely to change my shopping habits.

Like many, I’ve traded the traditional bloke’s Christmas Eve panic buying for a well-targeted bout of online shopping. And with both Marks & Spencer and Debenhams just memories on my local high street, I am not sure I’d be able to do the full Christmas shop locally anyway.

However, the future of the high street – we are regularly told – is all about experiences. Friends and family meeting to dine out or raise a glass or two. Christmas lights do make visiting our town centres feel more festive, and in those places where darkness will prevail it will surely feel a little less enticing.

The loss of switch-on events, which often draw hundreds or thousands of people to shopping districts, will also be a blow to traders of all types.

It may still feel like an Indian summer as I write these words, but Christmas is only just around the corner.

Cash-strapped councils must do what they need to do to balance the books – or even simply keep themselves solvent.

But the loss of those little touches of shared joy is still a sadness, if only for the picture it paints of a country that finds it increasingly difficult to keep the lights on, let alone switching on any more.