UK riots: 'A curse on Britain's yobs and slobs', says Joan Collins

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'Manners have been thrown out the window, and politeness is an old fashioned word': Joan Collins on how Britain has changed for the worse

Never one to mince her words, Joan Collins uses her brilliantly incendiary new book, The World According To Joan, to unleash her rage at the state of modern Britain. Here, in our second exclusive extract, Joan rails against the rise of yob culture and the loss of the good manners that once defined us as a nation.There are so many aspects of British life today that depress me: the decline in manners, the proliferation of badly dressed people, our obesity crisis, the lack of respect shown to our older citizens and the menacing yob culture that seems to rule our society, as evinced by the recent terrifying riots, arson and looting. I expect I will be criticised for saying exactly what I think about these issues, but I'm sure, too, that I express many of the views of a silent majority in Britain today.
My heart goes out to all the ordinary, decent people who work hard to make something of their lives for themselves and their children, and who pay their taxes uncomplainingly.
They're the ones, as Marilyn Monroe once said, who are getting 'the fuzzy end of the lollipop'.

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All of which probably makes me sound reactionary and rather old-fashioned. But do you know something? I couldn't care less. I've always been extremely candid perhaps too much so. Often friends sarcastically say to me: 'Why don't you say what you mean, Joanie?'

Riots: Joan Collins says Britain has descended in boorishness full of yobs, like those in the recent disorder ! (picture d)Well, I'm afraid I usually do, which is why I have, in the past, been called opinionated, prejudiced and anachronistic. I have reached an age, though, when, as long as no one gets hurt, I do and say what I like.The death of chivalry is an issue close to my heart and one which saddens me. Manners have been thrown out of the window, and politeness is an old-fashioned word used to describe a code of behaviour that has gone for ever.

What's so depressing is that it's happened here in Britain, once the home of flawless good conduct. Instead, we have embraced boorishness as our national emblem.The very idea of opening a door for someone, or standing up when a woman arrives at the table, is completely alien to many people today. Why has the desire to eat, dress and talk properly become something to be scorned, a source of ridicule? You see it everywhere, on the television and in restaurants: drunk people sitting with their elbows on the table and talking loudly with open mouths full of food. Even the F-word seems almost commonplace. My daughter, Tara, recently boarded a train with her two young children. About 30 boys and girls aged between 14 and 25 climbed into Tara's first-class carriage and began berating her and her children, using foul language.The children became terribly frightened as this mob were drunk and belligerent after their football team had lost. The yobs couldn't have cared less that their appalling language was offensive and upsetting to the whole carriage. Eventually the guard called the police, who turfed them off at the next station, but their rudeness and lack of consideration for all the people in the carriage was shocking. A new malaise seems to have crept into our society, which applauds a lack of manners, questions respect for the forces of law and order, and disregards the contribution made by our senior citizens who fought the terrible threat of fascism and despotis! m during the war not because they were forced to, but because it was the honourable thing to do for their country.Theirs was a generation that believed that if they didn't do the right thing, no matter how difficult, they wouldn't have been able to face themselves in the morning. Now, whole swathes of our population, from benefit scroungers to so-called respectable bankers, believe self-preservation is the only goal. All too often today we read sickening reports of defenceless old men or women having been beaten black and blue by some yob in search of cash. When they record it on their mobile phones for mindless kicks, it's even more horrible.The Fifties, in particular, were a wonderful decade. We'd come through a war. There was a feeling of having beaten a terrible enemy and of a golden future ahead.

Squawk show: Joan Collins says few of Jeremy Kyle's guests are not mentally challengedBut that didn't unleash a wave of mindless selfishness; it became a spur to millions of ordinary people to make something of their lives after everything they'd endured. More than 60 years on, where is the legacy of that hard-won freedom that our fathers and grandfathers fought for? It makes me despair. Along with the loss of manners has come the loss of interesting, witty conversation by which I mean conversation not laced with a string of expletives that would make a sailor blush.

Joan on... ugliness

Brits are almost rivalling Americans as the most hideously unstylish nation in the world. Its no ones fault to be born ugly, but must it be worn as a symbol of pride?

Is the answer to a plain face to put on 40lb, staple metal to every available lobe and tattoo oneself like an Apache on the war trail?When the controversial critic and author Kenneth Tynan uttered the F-word for the first time ever on TV in 1965, all hell broke loose. It was as shocking to hear this word said out loud as! it woul d have been, in olden days to reveal a glimpse of stocking, as Cole Porter wrote. Now, even actresses receiving Oscars say it and seem to feel little embarrassment.I'm often appalled at the offensiveness and coarseness that have passed for dialogue in the past decade on many of our TV programmes.It's the same in real life, but should anyone dare complain, 'freedom of speech' is quoted, and the person guilty of finding gratuitous foul language and actions offensive, or refusing to speak about their sex lives or bathroom habits is branded an old fogey, a prude or hopelessly old-fashioned.The C-word was verboten for years. I still consider it a nasty expletive that is demeaning to women, but Gwyneth Paltrow used it on television recently in reference to her grandmother. It seems it's now more acceptable to use that word than to call someone fat.

C-word: Gwyneth Paltrow used the expletive to refer to her grandmother on TV I have stopped watching many television programmes because the unfunny, crude, rude and lavatorial humour leaves me cold. Many British entertainers used to be known for their sophisticated wit and their stylish or ironic bon mots.Sadly, this is no longer the case. How horrible was a Comedy Roast on Channel 4 for dear Bruce Forsyth, when a bunch of no-name, so-called comics made fun of our national treasure while spewing out insults and obscenities?It seems that the more profanity a comedian can spit out in one sentence, the more people laugh, for some idiotic reason. Wit and true humour are only to be found on the American talk shows of Jay Leno, David Letterman and Jon Stewart. All of them are amusing and rarely, if ever, resort to four-letter words and filthy innuendo yet they manage to achieve consistent comedy night after night. Could Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand do the same?If TV programming is a reflection of our society, the future is hopeless. Surfing t! he morni ng chat shows, I'm horribly fascinated by the dysfunctional weirdos dominating U.S. and British airwaves.

Joan on... supersizing

It is impossible to buy a normal-sized bar of chocolate in this country they are now sold mainly in giant sizes.

America started it, but Britain has quickly followed suit.On Jeremy Kyle's squawk show, few of his guests are not circumferentially or mentally challenged. In their clownish costumes of tight leggings, baggy T-shirts and enormous trainers, they are real-life Dumbos. Nothing seems too gross to shock any more. The salacious subjects that help to sell their programmes include 'My pimp runs my family'; 'I made love to my mother's boyfriend while she watched'; and 'I'm 12 and have unprotected sex'. Nothing is left to the imagination on Mr Kyle's show. As these grotesques air their dirty linen, I quickly change channels. Although dozens of subjects are considered politically incorrect, it seems that bad language and discussion of bodily functions are not.
And does anyone care about the half-baked celebrities and wannabes on Big Brother who whip off their clothes at the drop of a hat and indulge in wretched 'hide and seek' sex under duvets while pretending not to be aware of the camera? This genre has spawned masses of similar programmes, which follow the daily lives of D-list celebs and are nauseating in their detail yet, simultaneously, unbelievably boring. There are far too many of these so-called reality shows on air: celebrity chefs galore, effing and blinding in kitchens nationwide, husbands and wives swapping partners, parents in despair handing over unruly children to a 'super nanny' and everyone pushing the boundaries to reach the lowest common denominator of bad taste.

Why I had to put silly Lily Allen in her place

Twitter familiar: Joan Collins with Lily Allen Too many people today are over-familiar. At ! a party a couple of years ago, a girl dashed forward to greet me in hugnkiss mode, her arms outstretched. I had no idea who she was, so I took a step back and said: Sorry, I dont kiss people I dont know. The girl was Lily Allen, whom I had never met before. Later that night she went on Twitter to report I had blanked her, and by the next morning, friends in America were emailing me about this complete non-event. All the power of the internet.Which brings me to new technology, another realm of bad manners.
I used to think tweeting was just for the birds, but now there seems to be an epidemic of people peck, peck, pecking away at their iPhones, BlackBerries, Strawberries or Whatevers. I tweet myself, and I do consider that at the right time and in the right place it can be an invaluable form of communication. But it can be irritating when, at a dinner party or in a restaurant, someone has their hands under the table trying to hide the fact their thumbs are hard at work. Many tweeters seem to care not one jot for the people theyre supposed to be socialising with.

Extracted from The World According To Joan by Joan Collins, to be published by Constable on September 1 at 12.99. 2011 Joan Collins. Available exclusively at Sainsbury's.