Start As You Mean To Go On….

Boris Johnson has lit the blue touchpaper with his plans to honour his election commitment to ban the drinking of alcohol on London's transport system.

Boris appears to be relying on the ‘broken windows’
theory of crime prevention – crack down on the small stuff and you create an environment where the greater crimes can get no traction.

The mayor said: "I firmly believe that if we drive out so-called minor crime then we will be able to get a firm grip on more serious crime.

I’m not ever in favour of blanket legislation – if a few people are making a nuisance, target them and crack down on them, and leave those who can enjoy a drink on Tubes or buses without annoying anyone else alone. But it was an election promise, so it would be hypocritical of him to scrap it now he’s won….

Predictably, the left-winger dominated unions are the first to throw their toys out of the pram at the prospect of the slightest change to the status quo:

But the Rail Maritime and Transport Union said the policy appeared "not to have been thought through very well" and could make matters worse.

Bob Crow, RMT leader, said:

Perhaps the mayor will come out with his underpants on over his trousers like Superman one Saturday to show us how it should be done, and maybe tell a crowd of Liverpool supporters that they can't drink on the train. We are being told that it will be our members who will have to approach people drinking and ask them to stop - but the mayor hasn't asked us what we think.

He doesn’t need to, Mr Crow. What do you plan to do, pull a strike over it, and see if your union’s popularity can actually achieve negative popularity figures….?

At least if it achieves nothing else, it might mean that the ambulance service isn’t used as a ‘wake-up-the-drunk-on-the–bus’ service, as reported so frequently by Paramedic’s Diary.