Manners maketh man ...

I have just finished reading a book by crime writer, Ken Bruen ( do check him out: http://www.kenbruen.com/ – he’s brilliant! ) in which the main ‘villain’ is someone who trawls the streets of south London and kills people because they lack manners and are generally unpleasant people.

And while it is rather an extreme way of trying to introduce a bit of courtesy back into life, I couldn’t wholly condemn his actions. Indeed, Mr Bruen obviously couldn’t either because the killer escapes to carry on his work in America!

I know I can sound like a broken record, but there is a coarseness about life at the moment which, I’m sure, does us no good at all.

So – without going around killing everyone who doesn’t say please or thank you – why don’t we all try and do our bit and lead by example?

• Remain polite and cheerful in the face of surliness
• Open doors for old ladies, even if they look at you as if you’re something they’ve just trodden in
• Use lots of these phrases:
  - I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that …
  - I’m sorry, do you mind …
  - I would really appreciate if you could …
  - Please
  - Thank you
  - Pardon me
  - Excuse me …
  
  Just have in the back of your mind that if none of this works, there is always the ultimate solution ...