MB

I haven’t commuted into central London for a few weeks so managed to somewhat forget how radicalising an experience it can be. On both trains this AM I was the only Briton - it was not like this pre-2020. A man was smoking a spliff in the carriage and another decided to serenade us with his Bluetooth speaker (his music taste was poor). Multiple fare evaders (reflecting London’s wonderful diversity) at the barriers. When boarding the Underground, we had to listen to this announcement on a loop. ‘Phone theft is common at this station’ every 30 seconds. I’ve never heard the CT/61016 or no smoking announcements that often. This is what I expect in a third world country (although, in fairness, I’ve travelled to some and even they don’t have to warn people not to have their phones out on public transport). We are in living in a first world, highly developed country. It should be safe to stand on a platform inside a transport station *in the capital city* of this advanced economy without being barked at to not have your phone out because it’s so unsafe. Here’s a novel idea: instead of stopping people from having their phones out, how about we robustly deal with phone theft, get BTP onto platforms to rugby tackle the thieves, and lock the scum up for considerable periods as a deterrent to others? Stop dealing with things downstream and making life miserable for the law-abiding country. Tackle problems at source. Tourists hearing this shit must think they’ve accidentally ended up in a failed state.

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