THREE resounding and appreciative cheers to the anonymous yet courageous lady I witnessed publicly taking a surly teenager to task for dropping an ice-cream wrapper in Radcliffe town centre last week.

This youth, a Year 10 or 11 pupil from a local high school by the look of him, was accompanied by his singularly unpleasant mother who, rather than admonish her son for his crass anti-social behaviour, leapt to his defence and loudly began abusing our anonymous crusader with such helpful shouted observations as "Who do you think you are?", "You must be mad", and "Haven't you ever dropped litter?" If this wasn't enough, her delightful offspring joined in with constructive observations like "silly cow" and "She just wants to do somebody else out of a job".

It seemed to me a sad little snapshot of modern Britain, where so many values seem to have become inverted, and where courage and decency are despised and reviled whilst aggression, uncouthness and grossness in behaviour and language are tolerated as the norm.

My heart went out to my little anonymous lady doing her bit for decent standards and standing up to the lout and his dreadful mother.

I wish I could say that I bravely went to her defence. Alas, I was not as courageous as she and quietly slid by on the other side. I was unwilling to become involved like, I suppose its fair to say, most of the rest of us who choose to turn a blind eye to the sad geographical, moral and spiritual wasteland our county is becoming.

Well done anonymous lady! You have my total and unreserved admiration.

D. H. DUTTON