James wrote:

Hmm. I can't honestly say that I've seen an awefully large number of
people drinking on public transport, either tube or bus, in the few
years that I've been living in the capital. More public transport
journeys are pretty short, so there's rarely enough time for even the
most light-weighted drinker to become drunk.

Ofcourse I've seen plently of trouble on public transport involving
drunk people, but they were all already drunk before boarding,
something that Boris' new legislation will do nothing to prevent.

That's it in a nutshell - I saw someone perfectly well behaved with a
can of Magners on the tube into town last Friday, then came home myself
on a bus after a birthday night out, obviously without a drop of booze
*on* me, but with the Electric Soup lapping the tonsils. It's not
people drinking on the tube you need to worry about, it's people being
drunk *and misbehaving*, which I'm sure was already covered by various
offences.

Look at it this way - if I go to the pub and have ten pints of *******
Strength Lager, then buy a can of Coke, get on the tube and drink it,
Boris says I'm fine. If I go to the pub and have ten Cokes, then buy a
can of ******* Strength Lager, get on the tube and drink it, I get
collared. What's the logic in that? Which case is more likely to lead
to a public nuisance? In which case am I even over the drink drive
limit, for heaven's sake?

I get the fearful impression Boris is indeed cracking on with his
promises and actually believed the rubbish his campaign put out. This
may well be more dangerous than the cynical politician who says what he
thinks will get him elected, then bins it and does what he wants when
the feet are under the desk.

Tom