This weekend column is brought to you by the founders of Niceties Tokens, Liz and Pete of Team Nice.

6. Dizzy Lizzy

Previously: It's easy for us all to look away, but if you were sitting on a bus and someone directly asked you, very politely, if they could sit down because they were about to pass out, would anyone (who was able) refuse? For research purposes only, I'll test this out…

This was the third go at this in as many days. I stood there in a muggy tube carriage holding on to the rail, looking about me first to check there was no one needing a seat. Nope. We were nearing Green Park so I knew that if I was going for the hat trick the time to commence was now.

A deep breath. I leant forward to the man sitting in front of me who was reading the Metro. 'Excuse me, I am feeling really dizzy'. He leapt up, not even needing to ask me if I wanted his seat. I sat for a few moments until we pulled in to the station and the doors opened. I weakly smiled and stepped off, keeping my head low as I disappeared into the crowd.

Every time I tried this experiment I got the same reaction. People don't mind giving up their seats to worthy causes, they just need to be asked. It wasn't nice that I lied but actually I only sat down for few seconds before getting off.

So what does this mean? I think that it would suggest that people just need more confidence. I can't imagine any pregnant woman actually being refused a seat if she were to ask for one. (But, please, I would find it interesting to hear otherwise.) This is why, personally, I thought that the baby on board badges would have been a wonderful thing, but you hardly see them about. Why not?

By Liz Akers