Citizen power has achieved some small but pleasing advances in the war against antisocial behaviour. There is an increasing tendency among morons to sit on the top deck of buses listening to music on MP3 players and mobile phones without headphones. Valeria Martinelli and Tom Wright, of South London, found this was driving them nuts. After two girls responded to their request to turn down the volume by following them home in a threatening way, they launched a campaign, Music Free Buses.

An online survey found that a quarter of respondents had witnessed threats of violence against people who requested music to be turned down. Three per cent saw actual violence. A petition calling for a ban on playing music without headphones has more than 4,000 signatures. Colchester MP Bob Russell has tabled an early day motion calling for regulation of the use of phones to play music in public. Mayor Ken Livingstone is to launch a London-wide campaign against music on buses.

None of this means that the irritants will disappear. Nor will it stop the gormless playing music loud enough for the whole bus to hear while wearing headphones. But it’s a start.