THERE is a moral standard measured by a yardstick known as "common decency" and, in an age when excess so often seems to prevail, it is encouraging to see the ordinary citizen fight back - and win.

So take a bow, Hyndburn councillor Bill Goldsmith, who complained about an over-the-top TV commercial that showed a couple making love, with the women later being rewarded with the gift of a watch.

He was also upset by another version of the ad, in which the woman turned into an ugly hag, when she was not rewarded with a watch.

Bill's complaint has been upheld and these "sex-for-sale" ads have now been banned.

Quite right, too.

For if advertisers have not a care for common decency, we need people who are prepared to stand up and tell them what it means.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.