Should unaccompanied little 'hips' sit next to strangers?

I grew up travelling between Switzerland and the UK. As my Mum is from Switzerland, and Dad from the UK, we had lots of family to visit, and I was quite often sent as an 'unaccompanied' flyer by myself. I used to think this was terrific, and would chat away to the person next to me (poor person), and have a brilliant time. I can certainly say this is where my love of travelling stemmed from.

However, in these dark days of 'stranger danger', is it acceptable for an unaccompanied minor to be seated next to an adult stranger, or should all these little ones sit in a special "i'm travelling all alone and perhaps I'm a little scared" area?

What happens if the cabin crew are ridiculously busy, and poor little 'hip' starts to feel a bit scared, sad, or god forbid, sick? Should there be a nanny service on board (like Gulf Air).

Air France already state that "unaccompanied children should not be seated next to adults", however surely this could put their safely at risk in the event of an accident?

A British business man was asked to move away from a 12 year old boy. This business man then decided to take British Airways to court accusing them of treating male passengers as "potential male molesters"

Are we all going slightly over the top here, or is this a sign of the times?