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There is one thing to celebrate about the all-new Boris regime. Putting a cork in drinking on public transport seems so eminently sensible you wonder why it hasn't happened already. Which of us hasn't grimaced as a beery crowd spilled onto our Tube late at night? It's a nightmare scenario - especially if you're a woman or the only one left in the carriage. There's no easy way out short of jumping off at the next stop.
The new Mayor is offering a solution: stop the drinkers getting on in the first place. Critics will say it's impossible to police, and they have a point - what if you're already drunk? And is anyone really going to confiscate wine bottles you're taking to a nice dinner party?
I'd guess the results will come gradually, not overnight. By officially declaring it antisocial to booze on trains and buses, it will, like smoking, become less and less acceptable. Yes, it's harder to stand up to an aggressive drunk than reason with a sober smoker, but the message will sink in and the public become less tolerant.
That's a welcome step in the right direction as far as I'm concerned. We've become far too accepting of drunken behaviour, both on and off public transport. From condoning a degree of harmless merriment in the street, we've ended up with the undertow of menace that accompanies mob boozing.
When Arsenal play at home, I'm used to running a baying gauntlet of drunk fans on Holloway Road, kept just in check by dozens of vans of police in riot gear. And sunny bank holiday weekends, like the one we've just had, are a signal to many to crack open a six-pack of lager and swagger down the road drinking it. By midnight the streets are no-go areas, and in the morning you have to pick your way through kebabs, broken glass and vomit to buy the Sunday papers.
An outright ban on drinking in public places - as they have in American towns - is a step too far for most of us civil libertarians. And it's just a very English thing to do, put on a dress and get sozzled in a field. I've lazed away many a day in a pleasant park with cold wine and warm sandwiches, and the last thing I'd want is a po-faced park attendant taking the fizz out of my picnic.
The flipside to this is the increasing numbers of people swigging booze in our town centres. A ban might not be the answer, but it's worth looking at. In my native Scotland many of the major cities outlawed "irresponsible" drinking in public years ago - it's transformed the atmosphere in parts of Glasgow from threatening to civilised.
If Boris can pull off even a small change in our attitudes and make buses and Tubes more pleasant late at night, then I'll drink (in moderation) to that.
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Having lived 18 years in England from 1988 to 2006, I must say I think this is a long-overdue step. As a woman, I always felt a sense of unease doing my Saturday shopping in various towns and encountering numerous young males standing around the high street with their 4-packs of strong lager. Public transport was, indeed, risky on Friday and Saturday nights. =So, I'll say, carry on, Boris. You've begun to tackle something that will make the country safer, especially for females (unless, of course, they're the ones doing the drinking....)
- Alice, Arkansas, USA
I enjoy a drink in the right circumstances, but I find drinkers on public transport and on the streets, who have already had enough to affect their sensibility, to be offensive and sometimes threatening. Great move, hope it becomes the norm rather than a source of confrontation. One Underground union chief (interviewed on TV) seemed prepared to be quite silly and aggressive about it and seemed to see it as a personal attack on his members by Boris.
- Retired, London, UK
While I wholeheartedly agree that drinking alcohol on public transport should be banned, like Charlotte Ross, I wonder why it wasn't done sooner.
It probably exposes the vociferous nature of the campaign to ban smoking which is rooted not in health concerns (as it misguidedly purported to be) but in the simple problem of the smell. Smokers as a group tend not to get high on Marlboro Lights and then go round learning at people, and stabbing those who stare at them.
- George, Guildford
