Esther Rantzen / Daily Express

Esther Rantzen appeared on the front cover of Friday's Daily Express bemoaning the way that swearing has permeated through society, and how Britain has become a less courteous society.

Whilst I agree that Britain is less courteous than at any other point I can remember, I find it strange that I am being lectured by a woman who is mostly well known for bringing swearing dogs and suggestively shaped vegetables into living rooms across the nation.

Swearing has happened to a lesser or greater degree for as long as there have been expressions of despair and heavy things to drop on one's feet. Upon my tisket! There are some that overuse swearing - this is genuinely a lack of imagination and vocabulary. As David Baddiel's father said, "...If everybody says f*** all the time, it gets boring doesn't it?", Swearing, at the appropriate time, can either summarize an entire situation in one word, or finish a scene in a comedy to great effect.

So, it has got to the stage where a woman who has had a career furthered by mild vulgarity, is now railing against it.

Glorious!