A disturbing drift ...

Turn back the Observer's files by a century and drunkeness, leading to domestic violence and real poverty, was a major problem.

The war-time generation blamed the black-out and fear of imminent death for loosening moral standards.

The post-war generation blamed everything from television to horror comics for such passing aberrations as razor-wielding Teddy Boys and Mods and Rockers riots.

"Beat Rave" dances at the De La Warr Pavilion were ended a couple of decades ago because a minority of those attending saw it as an opportunity to smash the building '“ or other dance-goers.

Every perceived threat from drugs to violent video games is forwarded as the root cause of today's problems.

Each generation, therefore, needs to look soberly at the ills that present themselves and consider whether they really do represent a general worsening of standards of behaviour in the community or are simply that era's version of something which is as old as the human race itself.

It is with these provisos in mind , that we regard just a few of some current manifestations.

*The shameful and disturbing spectacle of an early-hours "cat fight" - girls scrapping in the street at 3am and being watched by a crowd on on-lookers.

*The launching of a rocket into a crowded school playground

*A woman allegedly brandishing a gun in the town centre

And this in a town which, by the national standards of the day, is about as quiet and as safe as Great Britain gets ...

There is an underlying trend which in some respects is more disturbing.

While "road-rage" attacks are, thankfully, still comparatively rare in Bexhill, for most drivers hardly a day goes by without their being "tail-gated" or "cut-up" by aggressive drivers.

Competition for parking places, particularly in busy places like the town centre or Ravenside is too often marked by a grab-it-first mentality.

Violence against NHS staff has reached the point where a Trust campaign has had to be launched.

Everyone from shop staff to public sector workers has become the butt of rude and abusive behaviour from teenagers and pensioners alike.

Can all this really be put down to the chemical additives with which our over-processed food is stuffed?

Or do we really need to take a close look at the way we are drifting and make a concerted effort to tell the next generation that life in a society where manners and courtesy are taught is so much more pleasant for all?