Please, let's have a decent debate

Who bothers today to stand as a mark of respect when someone in official office enters a room?

Long gone are the days when the mayor of the town, the chairman of the local authority or anyone else attending a public function wearing their chain or badge of office was accorded the courtesy.

Worse, most public buildings, from hospitals to police stations, now find it necessary to carry notices in prominent positions warning that staff are not required to endure verbal abuse or threats of violence.

Such warnings are shameful - but necessary.

Now comes a worrying indicator of a further and totally unacceptable fall in standards of behaviour.

De La Warr Pavilion director Alan Haydon has found it necessary to write to the Observer to place on record his disgust at the treatment meted out to his staff by some people attending the public consultation exhibition there on the Next Wave seafront proposals. He has been shocked at the anger and rudeness directed at his staff.

That public feeling over Next Wave runs high has been evident by the flood of opinion on the Observer's letters page.

That residents should express themselves properly in this way and have turned out in such numbers for the opening of the exhibition is wholesome evidence that democracy is alive and well in Bexhill. It is in marked contrast to the apathy which has greeted previous consultation exercises.

But rudeness and outright aggression have no part to play in what should be informed and intelligent debate.

That such rudeness should