Good manners are selfless, not selfish.
Every situation involves a code of behaviour, whether people like it or not.
Etiquette evolves and changes rather than being frozen in a bygone era.
Where it was once about gaining skills to catch a husband or preparing to inherit the family seat, today etiquette helps us progress at work, make friends from all walks of life and simply become a kind, compassionate person whom others want to be around.
If polite conversation was an Olympic sport, Team GB would trounce every other nation.
It is still social suicide to ask what someone does for work as the first question. If you are at some professional networking event, then fair enough - your career has taken you there.
The big five topics remain taboo for small talk: sex, politics, money, health and religion.
Gravy is always marked and never poured, even if the gravy boat has a spout. That is for the ladle to rest. The gravy is ladled over the meat and nowhere else.
* Extracts from Just Good Manners written by William Hanson *
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