A much better idea would have been to have people sitting with a single can of lager each on the Circle Line, chatting quietly and not making trouble.
That's how the few people I've seen drinking on the Tube have behaved, unlike the back-seat sprawling gangs of boys with booze on buses in Oxford and London. These people could have worn a campaign T-shirt making it clear they haven't just forgotten about the law, they were defying it.
Instead, the protest appears to have morphed into a drunken orgy, with vomit, vandalism and violence.
It also had the effect of alienating previously sympathetic commuters angry that their usual Saturday night journey had turned into Apocalypse Now with booze. It couldn't have been worse if Boris Johnson had spanked every protestor outside Baker Street underground.
AndronicusComnenus makes this point on Comment is free.
yeah, cheers for shutting down part of the tube network in the name of freedom. You'll be pleased to hear that I got managed to get home fine...though it's a shame the same can't be said for the poor lady whom I helped on Saturday who been left stranded after missing her last train. You may have made a woman cry but don't worry - the important thing, after all, is that you enjoyed your piss-up.
It's interesting that Boris hasn't announced plans to crack down on the real problems on the Tube: people playing music loudly from phones or headphones, litter and those STUPID Together For London posters, that make my blood boil every time I see one. Boris would win brownie points if those were ripped down and some art put up in their place.
The real reasons for opposing this law-that it will lead to attacks on RMT staff and police, as well as not targeting the roaring drunk who get on after nine pints in a pub-have been lost in a drunken cry of FREEDOM! Maybe RMT staff should stage an hour-long protest going round and round the Circle Line with placards.
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