ASBOs make you polite

According to Louise Casey, Tony Blair's 'Respect Czar' (advisor), there is a distinct lack of politeness in our society. I completely agree (for once), impoliteness reigns supreme in our society. What happened to the good old days where the elderly, disabled, pregnant ladies, mothers and ladies in general, were given priority on public transport, where the person who walked through the door first would hold it open for the subsequent person and where  people cared for their surroundings?

Now fellow travellers clutch their seats as the elderly, disabled, pregnant ladies and mothers struggle standing, crushed by the hordes of people surrounding them. Now people push past aggressively to get on to the tube or bus. Now people let the door slam in your face. Now people litter and spit on their surroundings.

However, I disagree with one of her comments (we all know it wouldn't last) where she  champions ASBOs for helping restore respect in people.

She states "I hate the fact that everything is gloomy, everybody is sleeping with each other, everybody is killing each other, everybody is committing anti-social behaviour all the time when Britain doesn't look so awful in real life."

Let's get this straight, ASBOs do no improve politeness or restore respect, they are merely a means of punishing and suppressing anti - social behaviour. Omitting to help an old lady across the road (as she puts it) will not be corrected by handing out an ASBO. They will not cure the yob, binge drinking disease we have contracted. If you want to deal with casual sex and general etiquette then family upbringing, education and church are the ways forward. Indeed she admits that "a rise in single-parent families and less church-going and neighbourliness were all possible factors in falling levels of politeness." The natural question that follows on from this statement would be - how can ASBOs put these problems right.....? If we want a friendly and polite society let's build a sense of community spirit, focus on marriage and family issues and promote religion as a wonderful method of bonding the community.