You could argue, of course, that if most people do something then that something is acceptable. For example, I see an increasing number of people spitting in the street.

Unfortunately, a large proportion of them are under twenty years old. In addition to being a disgusting habit I am told that it poses a health risk to the rest of us. Then there's the old perennial chestnut of litter-louts. Would you accept a visitor to your house throwing empty fast-food containers all over the place?

A large number of people habitually swear in the street, in pubs and in ordinary conversation. I don't understand why they have to. Does it add to anything? There have been a spate of television programmes recently about Neighbours from Hell - if some of these incidents were included in a novel the reader would be hard put to suspend his disbelief.

It's not that it's difficult to believe that these things happen, it's simply that the insensitivity involved is so incomprehensible.

Of course, one can be precious about one's personal space, but, unless we've pots of money and can buy a moated castle, we must all live side by side on these British Isles.

I fundamentally disagree with one lady prime minister who famously said: There is no such thing as Society, there are individual men and women, and there are families.

I look at some of these, often smartly dressed, anti-social beings while their dogs are fouling the pavement, with a cigarette hanging from their lips.

One part of me, maybe the cowardly part, says live and let live, but then another part, perhaps the other cowardly part, asks silently: would you let that dog foul your living room? Do you care if you're poisoning your body?

I've rambled a bit, so I'll simply get down to the main issue.

Would you have others do to you what you do to others? If the answer is no then for pity's sake mend your ways. If the answer is yes then heaven help us all.

This elderly Silsden gentleman is not asking for special treatment.

He is demanding what each of us expects as a right: an expectation to be able to mourn in dignity and peace.

It is not enough that the Councils erect signs and notices. If people do not take on board that a cemetery is a very special place for a great many people then they are sticking two fingers up to civilisation.

Dog owners not only have a right to exercise their pets, they also have a duty to be responsible: this particular coin, like all others, has two sides. To accept this anti-social behaviour is to accept a lower standard.

On its own the fouling of public places is a small matter, but taken on the grander scale it sets the marker and defines the nature of this society. Maybe I've been too precious so I'll end this sermon simply to say: if your dog messes, clear it up.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.