As mentioned previously...
...this thing was always going to be a disaster. When you start criminalising everyone who uses the Tube, then you can - and should - expect people to respond in a less-than-positive manner.
The assaults upon TfL Staff and Police, however, were unacceptable. People have the right to work in a environment free from crime and the fear of crime and from personal experience, I know how unpleasant it is to have some idiot take a pop at you on the Tube.
I was personally quite pleased by the outcome of the Circle Line Party and the general two-fingers-up shown by most the people that travelled that night to Boris. When you get consensus offending, it is nigh on impossible for the police to enforce the bye-laws of the Underground. Although, on a technical point, the actual act of drinking alcohol on the Tube being a bye-law offence won't happen for a few months! This has simply become part of the conditions of carriage, so you won't see anyone being prosecuted for this offence for a while yet, rather, the police can simply ask you to leave the train and/or network. Contrary to common belief, the Tube is not a public place, rather, a private place of business in which you are there by implied consent (rather like the door of a shop being left open; people may enter, but it's still private property and you can be asked to leave at any time).
If and when the next party happens, it will be interested to see the reaction of the police. I fear that this has simply paved the way for minor low-level disorder in the name of "spearheading our rights", as someone put it on Saturday. I don't actually buy that argument. You don't have a God-given right to drink on the Tube. So the parallels between banning alcohol in a public place versus a private place (see above) don't hold water for me.
Of more importance here is that if Boris decides to push through more headline-grabbing rules like this one that paints everyone with the same brush and treats people like idiots, then we may expect further problems down the line...if you'll excuse the pun.
