Lord Winston, rail passenger who says what we all think!
As he tweets criticism of ‘rude’ woman who had loud 60-minute mobile call...
WE’VE all experienced the annoyance of listening to people talking loudly into their mobile phones on public transport.
So it’s easy to understand the frustration that led Professor Robert Winston to publicly criticise a mother for making a one-hour phone call on a packed train.
His view was backed by many of his 40,000 Twitter followers, who described having phone conversations on the train as the ‘height of rudeness’.
But some accused the IVF pioneer of being a ‘bully’ after he posted four photographs of the woman he claimed was having an ‘entirely banal chat’ on the social media site
He also questioned why the woman on the busy London to Manchester train was not speaking to her child sat beside her. The 77-year-old was accused of ‘invading’ the mother’s privacy and later bowed to pressure and removed the photographs – but insisted that ‘invasion of privacy can be a two way invasion’.
When the train arrived at Manchester Piccadilly station at noon yesterday, a reporter approached the woman and showed her Lord Winston’s tweets.
She told the Manchester Evening News the posts were ‘ rude’, but declined to comment further.
However, Lord Winston, who presents the BBC’s Child of Our Time series, said it was the woman who was rude. ‘I have deleted it as people thought it was an invasion of her privacy,’ he said. ‘She was rude. When I answer the phone, I go to the end of the carriage to take the call. We could hear every single word of her conversation.’
Earlier Lord Winston had tweeted a series of disparaging posts about the woman.
One said: ‘This woman has been on this phone call for 30 minutes in a crowded carriage. We are not interested in her conversation.’
Another read: ‘After 50 minutes she’s bored with the whole conversation. And so are we equally bored.’ The final picture had the caption: ‘It’s now 60 minutes – she has a child with her. Why not talk to her child?’ When one of Lord Winston’s followers pointed out the woman might have been on the phone for a good reason, the Labour peer replied: ‘Maybe you are right Jenny but she is in a public place and we can hear every word of one side of what seems an entirely banal chat.’
His actions prompted criticism, with one woman saying: ‘How is publicly shaming a stranger without their knowledge making things any better?...You could have just given her your opinion yourself.’ A woman named Juliet added: ‘Very uncomfortable with people being photographed like this. I know she’s invading your privacy but you have 40k followers.’ However, many agreed with Lord Winston’s exasperation. A user called Gail said: ‘Totally agree it’s infuriating nowadays on the train and bus listening to people’s futile and boring conversations. No manners whatsoever.’ John Fitzsimmons wrote: ‘ Why do people think it’s okay to rabbit on and on in a railway carriage whilst on a mobile. Behind you 100 per cent.’ But after being accused of being an ‘internet bully’, Lord Winston deleted the pictures. He said: ‘Whatever I’m contrite – I’ve deleted the tweets but still rather feel that invasion of privacy can be a two way invasion.’ Many operators have quiet carriages where travellers are not allowed to make phone calls. Virgin Trains have quiet coaches in standard class, while all high speed First Great Western Trains operate a ‘quiet zone’ of two carriages. South Western also have quiet coaches on longer distance trains.
‘Height of rudeness