The man who fainted on the London Underground

ON Thursday morning on my London Underground train a man fainted. Obviously I’m used to this, men overcome by my beauty, throwing themselves at my feet (joke). This poor chap though was out for the count, probably because it was so hot and he (like the Labour leader) was unable to find a seat. It was very crowded.

We always complain that we’re a walk-on-by society. So didn’t we all step over the unconscious passenger, stopping only to take a callous picture of him on our iPhones?

Not a bit of it. Everyone pitched in, hauled him off the floor of the train, loosened his collar, hovered with bottles of water, alerted a member of staff, or simply stood around being concerned.

After a few seconds (but it did seem a worryingly long time) he opened his eyes and looked in bewilderment at the throng of anxious strangers staring back at him. “You were properly unconscious mate,” said one, dusting him off and handing him the apple he had dropped. He was OK I think, though his face was still the colour of parchment. A member of the Underground staff sat him down so he could recover fully.

Last week, also on the Underground, a man fell off the platform on to the track. Risking both electrocution and being run over by a train another passenger leapt down to help him. It was a brave and dangerous thing to do.

Also in the news we read of the two 17-year-old girls who helped an elderly man with dementia. It was dark and late at night so they could easily have walked past on the other side of the road.

Look at the pictures from Italy where volunteers have come from far away to help rescue any survivors in the rubble of those hilltop villages.

We see a lot of the dark side of human nature and sometimes it seems as though to be cruel, uncaring and violent is the norm. And sometimes, thankfully, you realise it isn’t.