WHAT a filthy lot we are. Pavements covered in dog dirt, playgrounds in broken glass, overflowing litter bins, fag ends, takeaway cartons and chewing gum everywhere. And that's before you start on public loos...

A new study by ENCAMS, an environmental charity makes grim reading - - makes your skin itch just to read it. The charity wants councils to re-think their attitude to street cleaning and maintenance.

Well yes, it's hard to put your litter in a bin if there isn't a bin to be seen or if it's been overflowing for weeks.

But there's another simpler, cheaper solution.

By and large, it's not councils who drop litter or let their dogs roam unchecked. And, my particular bugbear, it's not councils who leave dirty disposable nappies in car parks, on beaches, tucked into tree roots by a stream or even once, memorably, disgustingly, on the seat of a train.

The trouble is that once a place is filthy, it makes it so much easier for everyone else to add to the heap. What's the point in taking your rubbish home if no one else does?

All the point in the world.

It is one of the easiest ways in which we could make the world a better place and improve our surroundings. But we seem to have lost our pride, our self respect, so much so that we just accept the rubbish now and shrug it off as inevitable.

Well it's not.

And as for dog dirt, I would cheerfully pile the mess back onto the doorstep of the unfortunate animal's owner. Lots of councils and businesses put a great deal of money and effort into planting flowers, giving us pretty gardens, attractive roundabouts, grow-bags on bus stop roofs and hanging baskets everywhere.

And when you're gazing up admiring them, your foot is skidding in something disgusting.

In some states of America they have instant on-the-spot fines for litter droppers. Others put pressure on fast food outlets to make their customers tidy. Takeaway cartons and the remains of fast food are the equivalent of a ratty banquet. No wonder you see rats scuttling round Durham at all hours. They think they're in ratty heaven. And it's all thanks to us.

There is even the theory that the cleaner the area, the less likelihood of crime - the basis of zero tolerance.

It has to be worth trying. If nothing else, we'll have made the world a little bit nicer.

Rod Liddle, has been forced to give up the editorship of Radio 4's Today programme because he refuses to give up his column in the Guardian where he has fun with his left wing views.

The final straw was a column about the Countryside March in which he attacked the Countryside Alliance and its supporters which he implied came solely from among the public schools "and the fusty belch-filled dining rooms of the London clubs"

That wasn't just biased journalism, it was lazy, inaccurate journalism. Definitely time for him to go.

Splendid day on Sunday for a visit to Castle Bolton, long a family favourite and much more atmospheric than the immaculate, manicured English Heritage sites.

In the September sunshine, in its glorious position commanding Wensleydale it was at its stupendous best.

But in all my many visits there, I had never until Sunday used their loos -the ones inside the castle. The facilities were fine but the views were amazing. Talk about loo with a view.

If there is any loo with a better one, I'd be amazed.

SO the census shows that many young men are migrating. Possibly.

On the other hand, last month I found a half completed census form belonging to my son's former Manchester flat mate on his bedroom floor here.

It's not that these young men have left the country - they just went down the pub and forgot about the form.

IN case you hadn't noticed, it's Walk Your Children to School Week.

As the amount of traffic and badly parked cars seems just the same as usual, that must be Walk Your Children to School from the Car Door Week then.