Here's a message for men of a more mature vintage. Don't let the youngsters drag you down to their level of sartorial inelegance.

It isn't a sign of decrepitude to wear a smart jacket or suit and tie to dinner in an hotel or restaurant. It's a sign of style.

I make no excuses for returning to the theme of slipping standards of dress among men. It lets us down.

The other weekend, enjoying a couple of days in a mid-priced Lake District hotel, my wife and I as usual did our dressing-up-for-dinner bit: a smart frock for her and a suit and tie for me.

Well, it was an occasion. The hotel was a comfortable one with an elegant dining room. It seemed in order to try to dress to match the surroundings. Most of the women in the busy restaurant had done the same, young or old. They'd made an effort. But the men?

There was casual wear everywhere: open-necked, short-sleeved shirts; sweat shirts; even jeans and T-shirts worn with trainers. The younger men had set the style and the older ones were trying to keep up (or down). If they'd brought jackets with them, they'd left them in their rooms and were sitting in rolled-up shirt sleeves, tieless.

There were only two jacket-and-tie outfits in evidence on that first night, apart from mine, both worn by men who were probably in their 60s. By the next evening they'd succumbed to the trend of informality, too, and were in open-necked shirts and jacketless.

It made me all the more determined to keep flying the flag for formality. It would be nice if more men of middle age and beyond would do the same. Let's encourage younger people to follow our example, instead of us following theirs. Let's get them to realise that a suit isn't just for work. It's for pleasure, too. By all means dress in a trendily-casual way for casual occasions. But when the situation demands it, dress up a bit. It not only makes you feel good. If you insist on buying British, it also helps to create work for the dwindling number of people employed in the textile and tailoring industries.

It's a shame that presenter John Dunn has retired from Radio 2 at the age of 64. His teatime programme was a fine example of how broadcasting can be popular while still remaining civilised.

However, it would be wrong to read any signs of Radio 2 ageism into his departure. The station continues to fly the flag for oldie broadcasting. Wogan is a mere lad at 60, with Michael Parkinson only slightly older. But Jimmy Young is in his 70s and so is Alan Freeman, who is still presenting his Pick of the Pops. And Brian Matthew, of a similar vintage, brings the same enthusiasm to his Sounds of the Sixties as he did to Saturday Club when I was still in my mid-teens.

Long may Radio 2 continue to put talent and experience above brash youthfulness, and maintain its flexible retirement-age policy.

I Don't Believe It!

Pavements are for people, not things with wheels (apart from prams and wheelchairs, that is). That's the Mildew view and it's shared by Mrs N Oliphant of Boothtown, Halifax.

"The thing I really hate is almost getting knocked off my feet by kids on skateboards, roller blades and especially bikes on the pavement," she writes. "If they want to use these, why don't the go in the road? Bike riders seem to think they have a right to ride on the pavement, adults as well as kids. I also hate to see two kids on a bike wobbling all over the place."

Mrs Oliphant suggests that the police should take a tough line and confiscate for a year the bikes of anyone found riding on the pavement. Not a bad idea. I now await the letters from cyclists complaining about selfish pedestrians.

And I know for certain that I shall have to discourage Mrs Mildew from writing a letter of complaint to this column. Well, it would make us both look ridiculous, wouldn't it? But she'll be cross. I know that for certain. She hates it when people call children "kids". As just about everybody does, that means that she's cross quite a lot of the time. But I have to agree with her. As she says, kids aren't children. They're young goats.

If you have a gripe about anything, drop a line to me, Hector Mildew, c/o Newsroom, T&A, Hall Ings, Bradford BD1 1JR, email me or leave any messages for me with Mike Priestley on (44) 0 1274 729511.

Yours Expectantly,

Hector Mildew

Enjoy Mike Priestley's Yorkshire Walks

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