'Thank you' and 'please' have followed the same road. On the other hand the word 'sorry' has been hijacked by business - just listen to any recorded message when you're waiting for a telephone call to be answered - and used in situations where there is plainly no sorrow at all. I was amazed at this year's Labour Party conference to see delegates give their loudest cheer for the film clip of John Prescott punching a protester. People used to say 'sorry' to apologise, but it now seems to have become a point of honour not to apologise, but rather to defend bad behaviour.

The book is an occasionally light-hearted look at six areas where we all really could try harder. It's not a new topic but Lynne Truss is of the opinion that the advent of new technologies has brought the debate to boiling point and she examines just how boorish our behaviour has become. Every generation believes that the one which follows it is ruder, has fewer manners than their own generation.

The full title Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of Everyday Life (or six good reasons to stay home and bolt the door) is one of the longest I've ever seen and I hope you'll forgive me for not using it! It comes from the phrase 'Talk to the hand 'cause the face ain't listening', used, I think, on the Jerry Springer show. Apart from the fact that you're not a curmudgeon (old or otherwise) you will be the same, which is one of the reasons that Lynn Truss's book Talk to the Hand makes such wonderful reading. If everyone was like me, the world would be a perfect place. I frequently apologise when it isn't my fault. I never fail to say 'please', 'thank you' or to apologise when appropriate. I'm an old curmudgeon, but my manners are perfect, as is my interaction with other people. Buy it for yourself or for someone else as a present. Summary: An entertaining but well-researched look at the way in which our manners have declined into boorishnesswill have you both thinking and laughing.

Lynne truss new book