BoozeTube no longer
Team Boris have apparently promised us one new announcement every day since the start of this week until the election (give me a chance, guys – I have a full-time job to hold down as well as blogging, you know).
I’m not sure what today’s was supposed to be, but I don’t imagine the fact he’s done dope and coke was on Lynton Crosby’s schedule.
Yesterday’s announcement was explained concisely in the Daily Telegraph:
Boris Johnson will ban alcohol from the London Underground if he becomes the next mayor of London.
The Conservative candidate will say that the Tube must become a no-go area for drinkers, claiming that alcohol is a factor in four out of 10 incidents of violent crime. […]
Banning alcohol would require a simple amendment to the Tube’s conditions of carriage specifying that the consumption of alcohol was prohibited, he said.
That’s true. In much the same way, banning people from wearing, for instance, blue hats would require a simple amendment to, say, the legislation covering public decorum.
I think both ideas might be somewhat overlooking a crucial aspect of any proposed changes to laws and regulations: enforcement. After all, banning murder required only a “simple amendment” to the statute books, but it doesn’t quite seem to have resulted in no-one ever being murdered again.
This looks like yet another hollow and uncosted policy announcement with no real thought or planning behind it.
And unlike some, this piece of attempted populism isn’t even proving popular, judging by the number of comments I’ve seen people adding at the bottom of news stories to the effect of “my friends and I often share a drink on our way out in the evening on the Underground - why punish us by banning this?”
So make sure you point this policy out to anyone you know who’s thinking of voting for Boris, if you think they’re among those who enjoy a tipple on the Tube.
April 6th, 2008 at 13.05
Thank goodness …… someone who can keep violent drunks out of the tube whilst late night workers earning a living are going home …….. people should vote for Boris on this alone. Since when did it become insane to protect hardworking people from drunks?
April 6th, 2008 at 13.42
I think you’ll find that violence is already illegal on the tube, and indeed anywhere else in the UK. Banning people from having a drink while they travel is going to make no difference to the chances of the transport police being able to deal with the tiny minority of drinkers who turn violent.