It is often said the only occasion on which voters get to meet their prospective representatives is when they come to their door and ask for their support at a forthcoming poll.

And if they are successful, you can expect them to immediately commit to being “the servant of the people” and putting the needs of constituents above anyone else.

Hustings meetings have traditionally been a way for the public to gauge the qualities - or lack thereof - of those who want our vote.

KentOnline will be live-streaming two such events this week - one in Medway tonight and the other in Canterbury on Wednesday.

But some candidates will be noticeably absent.

It seems some prospective parliamentarians are less inclined to take part in these debates than others.

In a climate in which abuse and intimidation of MPs and would-be MPs has risen alarmingly, there has been a worrying trend for candidates to withdraw from these meetings, citing fears over security.

Labour’s Rosie Duffield, who is standing for re-election in Canterbury, says she won’t attend such meetings, blaming "constant trolling, spite and misrepresentation", which she said was "being pursued with a new vigour during this election”.

“Sadly the actions of a few fixated people has made my attendance impossible,” she said, instead planning to hold "secure" local events instead.

You can’t blame anyone for putting their own safety and security first where there is evidence-based risk.

But there are plenty of other aspects of an MP’s work that involve them being in the public domain, where they could be just as vulnerable. Indeed, a large part of an MP’s working life inevitably involves public face-to-face meetings with people.

Another candidate - Kelly Tolhurst, who is the former Rochester and Strood MP - says she is focusing on talking to residents in their homes, which arguably is just as risky.

Meanwhile, The Liberal Democrat candidate in Tunbridge Wells, Mike Martin, says he and his team “have to make careful choices about how we prioritise my time; this means I am not able to accept every invitation.”

As a consequence, he has decided the only hustings he will take part in is “the one to attract the most interest from the widest range of people” and that is the one being organised BBC South East.

No one can deny there is a bona fide issue that MPs and would-be MPs have to confront.

But it would be wrong and damaging to democratic debate if there were candidates who evaded scrutiny and accountability by citing security issues.

The one way to face down the trolls, the keyboard warriors and those fixated with disruption and throwing milkshake at those who want our vote is for as many of these meetings to take place when they can be - not to cancel them at the first opportunity.

• Theresa May wanted it; as did Boris Johnson. But Rishi Sunak appears not to be that enthused by the idea.

What are we talking about? Lifting the ban on new grammar schools - always a tricky issue for the Conservatives.

Of the claimed 23,000 words in the Conservative manifesto, there is just one mention of the word and that is in the context of “preserving their existing rights.”

What does that mean? According to the manifesto, it represents a commitment to “further protect parents’ choice on where to send their child to school, including preserving the rights of independent and grammar schools”.

The key words here are preserving existing rights - which is not the same thing as “permitting new grammar schools”.

It means that there will be no entirely new grammars, which will be a disappointment to the many Conservatives in Kent who think the party is missing a trick on the issue and allowing Labour to evade scrutiny on its position.