First and last it is the fault of the person dropping the litter - not that of the local council for not providing enough bins or emptying them regularly, or that of the food manufacturers for overpackaging. It would be nice if councils and manufacturers did their bit in this regard but their is NO excuse for the dropping of litter at any time. The duty of councils and police ( I believe it is still an offence to drop litter in this country) is to prosecute heavily and mercilessly when an offence is committed and to broadcast it in the local media so all are aware of the consequences. However, litter offences are very rarely brought to court in this country, are even more rarely prosecuted and even then the offender is never financially penalised. Finkelstein is right to believe that drawing the public's attention to litter will only change their behaviour for the worse. The people of Britain become ever more swinish are quite happy to live in their takeaway/throwaway little world.

steve, Birmingham,

Littering is disgusting, and the one thing that comes close to provoking road rage in me is when people throw things out of their car windows! I wish I knew why so many people are so disrespectful of public places; I mean, the inside of my house is not a pretty picture sometimes but WHY would you throw something on the floor outside? Show some consideration for your fellow man, not to mention the birds and beasts.

Sadly it's way beyond a national malaise though - go to practically any beauty spot in the world and some cretin will have left a drinks can, plastic bag or such lying around.

Adam Neilson, Birmingham,

Spot on.

This could be the reason why services free at the point of delivery which eventually become rationed then become subject to even more demand. And why education and the NHS are now struggling within budgetary constraints.

The solution, regrettably, is an element of personal contribution. Just as the regular group restaurant meal starts to become expensive if the total bill is shared equally regardless of the individual order cost, on account of the tendency to order a more expensive item because others have done so, so paying in a way directly related to each individual order will encourage frugality rather than greed.

dr venables preller, Warminster, UK

"Most other countries tackled this issue decades ago", claims Peter from Edinburgh (above).

Which other countries?

I live in France and drive across the Swiss border into Geneva every day. You should see all the litter around here. Or all the litter in Moscow, where I lived for a while. I'd love to know who exactly has tackled it.

Claire, Ain, France

The one thing the article did make me do was sign up for the anti plastic bag petition currently suffering from a distinct lack of popularity on the Downing Street website. Please take your time to sign up and stop the waste being generated in the first place. Visit petitions.pm.gov.uk/FANASTICPLASTIC (sic) Sign up before the 30th May

Jono Taylor, Bristol, UK

Britain is shamefully grubby, and the sooner it gets a decent long term litter reduction campaign the better. To hell with worries about 'nannying', stop filling the country with discarded rubbish. Most other countries tackled this issue decades ago.

Pete, Edinburgh, Scotland

Bad habits don't die easily. "Littering" is not just a social malice, but a reflection of one's personality trait and life style attitudes. Be it Britain, or India or any other part of the globe, we find so called decent and educated people, casting off and throwing away the rubbish like their in born right. We can talk a lot over the pulpit to improve our social etiquettes , but in real life situations more often than not we all behave like hypocrats. Are we not apt in being as 'sofa sophists' , keeping our homes clean and tidy, yet caring a least about our city and neighbourhood. And then we expect our Civic authorities to be well spruced and meticulous in mending our misdoings , and keep the things shipshape. Unfortunately Delhi was recently nominated as an unclean city and earned the sobriquet of a "garbage dump". It hurts and stinks too. To just give a spin off and a twist of the tale, we carry a lot of litter in our ideas and thoughts too. Can't we clean up our mental garbage ???

Sandy, New Delhi, India

maybe we should blame bin unladen?

lou capetown, cape town, south africa (former colony)

In part I agree that the more we are shown how other people misbehave the more acceptable it is for us to justify breaking the rules. With this in mind do you now agree that we should stop discussing homosexuality, race, religion, teaching sex education in school and wife beating. Not discussing issues does not make them go away it simply glosses over the problems. When I was a child my mother would ask if my friend put his hand in the fire would I do so as well whenever I said stupid things like John's mother's lets him do ....

I live in a wonderful area with nice forest paths and clearings to picnic at and was amazed last year when a family dropped litter everywhere during thier picnic and once finished complained that the area was getting very dirty with all the rubbish and someone should do something about it. I did but they were not to impressed on getting a ticking of for being louts.

Joseph Kellie, Edinburgh, Scotland

So by this impecable logic, the best thing that could happen to this country would be to close down the Daily Mail. I couldn't agree more...

Stu, London,

i too read the paxman article and agreed with it. There are far too many dirty people in this country who throw rubbish, spit on the street, drop gum, it's disgusting. why are you denouncing his attempt to shame people not to accept this? i think you're idea about the petrified forest is absolute tosh as well. in fact, your article is complete rubbish in comparison to his. if you want to write about david cameron then do it. and if you want to just read what other people wrote and criticise them for caring then please find another outlet other than this decent paper. thanks.

jamie, london, uk

I think your articles resemble the ostensible subject of this one in following a paperchase of facts to get to the main point - which here is clearly to undermine David Cameron. The problem which this article identifies in terms of the litter law is one of attitude. Excessive conformity may be undesirable, but there is an influence on attitude in this country which is unsettling and undermines the notion of the principle of discipline.

Henry Percy, London, UK

Agree. Agree.

Kong Kek Kuat, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

When I was young, we lived next to a wood. The owner had put up a big sign near the gate: "Danger - Dilithium poisoning." Do I even need to say that there was no litter?

Ian Kemmish, Biggleswade, UK