When I saw this I wrote on Facebook that “I feel sad for her, she’s obviously in pain; but good the way the other people on the tram reacted – supporting each other and keeping cool.”

Andy Roberts commented “There’s something not quite right about this viral video phenomenon and the moral outrage surrounding it. Firstly, I agree it looks like an unfortunate “looney on the bus” scenario, but 2nd, what exactly was the role and relationship of the person shooting the video?”

The woman was wrong (her behaviour incited distress and could have incited violence) and she has been arrested but what about the ethics/legality of filming a public incident and publishing without the permission of those filmed? The authorities have used the video as evidence to arrest the woman and on YouTube there are responses from all angles, multiculturalist and racist. What’s said on the street doesn’t stay on the street any more and the men and women on the Clapham Omnibus and the Croydon Tram are going home to upload their vlogs. Are we becoming a more open society and a more ‘conversational society’ or are we becoming a ‘Big Brother’ society in both famous references of the term?