Drunken violence all Boris's fault, says Tube Union

First things first: Westmonster has long held reservations about London Mayor Boris Johnson's banning of alcohol on public transport (effective today), simply because we're not sure what it's going to achieve. The majority of normal people who enjoy a cheeky train-drink on route to a pub or club are just going to feel slightly miffed, while the abusive maniac who downs six cans of Super-Strength Kestrel and yells at commuters isn't exactly going to think 'oh, hang on. This is illegal now, is it? Silly me - no more boozing!'

Having said that, we're genuinely astonished at RMT leader Bob Crow and his response to an incident on Saturday night - or rather incidents, in which hundreds of drunken imbeciles decided to 'celebrate' the last night of drinking on the Tube by getting smashed and becoming violent with staff and other passengers alike. According to ol' Hammer-and-Sickle Bob, this is apparently entirely the fault of Boris Johnson.

Bob's baffling rant to The Times went as follows:

"Johnson should apologise personally to all those who were assaulted and abused last night thanks to a half-baked gimmick designed solely as a publicity stunt and without a moment's thought for the people told to implement it. We warned that it could put our members at greater risk of assault, but there is no comfort in being proved right when Tube workers have been injured and abused."

Yeah - you tell him, Bob! After all, that whole notion of 'responsibility for one's actions' - a concept honed over countless thousands of years both as an evolutionary necessity and benchmark for intelligent, reason-based civilisation - has always been a bit of a murky one, hasn't it? We're sure these harmless partygoers were just a misunderstood bunch, as proven by a highly articulate comment on one of the many anti-Boris Facebook groups: