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LONDON - IT IS a nation that likes to think it taught the world about good manners. But Britain is no longer practising what it preached, with the vast majority of people finding the country ruder than it was 10 years ago, according to a survey published this week.
Spitting, swearing, queue jumping, playing loud music and pinching each other's parking space were all cited as examples of the kind of bad behaviour which is lowering the tone.
More than 86 per cent of people say Britons are ruder than a decade ago and more than half (56.5 per cent) feel bad manners are the biggest problem in the country today, according to the ITV survey of 2,800 people.
Nearly 75 per cent of Britons think the behaviour of celebrity footballers encourages bad manners in society. However, when asked to name the worst influence on children's manners, two-thirds of those surveyed blame parental vulgarity and lack of discipline.
And more than 90 per cent believe many parents are failing to pass on basic manners to their children.
The survey reinforces anecdotal evidence of a nation grappling with a behaviour problem.
In shops, every minute of every day, a sales clerk somewhere in Britain is physically or verbally abused, union officials say.
In schools, thousands of teachers are rebuked, threatened or assaulted by parents every year. On Saturday nights, town centres are often a no-go area of brawling youths.
On public transport, signs carry warnings of punishment for anyone who physically assaults staff. Remarkably, casualty wards in hospitals also carry the same signs, a clear indication that even the sick and wounded are losing their temper these days.
'There are still lots of people who behave impeccably, but there are some vicious people of all ages who are only interested in their own well-being and their own advantage and who are prepared to push and fight and swear and spit to get what they want,' said Mr Ian Gregory, founder of Campaign for Courtesy, an independent group aiming to raise the tone.
He blamed an impatient quest for the 'good life' which the media portrays as available to everyone, but which is in fact enjoyed only by the few. The result is frustration at the disappointment of super-high expectations.
'People have become very acquisitive. They want things that they see are theirs by rights, and engage in any behaviour to get it,' Mr Gregory said.
The government has tried dishing out thousands of legal injunctions against anti-social types, but the so-called anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) have been criticised for being too harsh on some and not harsh enough on others.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said this week that anti-social behaviour was of greater concern to a lot of people than broader political issues like the economic downturn.
Campaigning in northern England ahead of crucial local elections on Thursday, he said: 'The issues here are that people want less anti-social behaviour and they want the police to be more active in the local community.'
Etiquette experts say the decline of standards can be partly explained by the erosion of old values of deference towards 'the maker, the monarch and the men' - God, royalty and Parliament.
Etiquette coach Diana Mather told the ITV programme that commissioned the survey: 'I suppose it's part of the breakdown in society the fact that we stopped having respect for figures in authority partly because those in authority didn't command it.'
mark.riceoxley@btinternet.com
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