Dear "Respect Czar" Louise Casey

Thank you for your recent guidance on the need for politeness in British society however I do not recall reading about the level of politeness demonstrated by lying a country into war. You see while I need no guidance on giving up a seat for a pregnant lady, or not becoming uncontrollably drunk and fighting & swearing in the street, or tossing litter, I do feel I need some guidance on how to politely murder what must now be 1 millon Iraqis.

Maybe it's just me, but after a pretty thorough catholic upbringing I ultimately became an apostate, I found no evidence of the God I was being told to worship. So you see I don't have the benefit of going to a church which perhaps (as you posit) could show me how to be polite and decent, perhaps they could show me how to be polite and decent about using napalm on Fallujah, or torturing taxi drivers to death for fun. Although I fear they may not be so polite to my friends with their insistence on not being heterosexual, perhaps you could could give me some guidance on how to be respectful there.

Maybe if I would watch more TV then I may be able to see a soap opera that would take up your challenge to demonstrate that life is not all gloom and misery and that it was ok to be decent. Perhaps they could show a political leadership tried and convicted of war crimes for lying a country into war to show how decency should triumph. That certainly would make a change from the bed hopping and spitefulness so prevalent in popular serial 'drama' and which you find so unpleasant. Of course the need to pursue audience share with prurient shows is pushed by the 'free market' which your party does so encourage. I am becoming confused, am I missing the decency and respect for its supporters in the 'Labour' party becoming a conservative one? Or am I getting too far 'back to basics'?

So thank you for your timely advocacy for a more caring, polite, decent and respectful society. But apart from my filthy mouth and unkempt ideas of not lying a country into a war that has killed a million people, I feel I have no trouble in being polite and decent, I even hold ideas of honour and integrity close to my heart. Which is why Ms. Casey I suggest you look somewhat closer to home to find the source of many of your concerns, perhaps consider the idea that from a rotten tree poisonous fruit will grow. And while many are able to make up there own minds over matters of ethics the influence on the weak willed of rich and powerful leaders lying a country into war and committing the supreme crime (as defined by the Nuremberg tribunal while trying the Nazi regime) is troubling. So perhaps you could show them the way by ensuring a swift and fair trial of this country's leading politicians and their staff who committed this crime. I certainly would have some respect for that.

Yours Respectfully

RickB