Sex offences on public transport in London are soaring, but the solution is better policing and security across the network not voluntary gender segregation, argues James Ford

Harold Macmillan, in a speech in 1961, said that the Liberals (as they were still then called) “offer a mixture of sound and original ideas…unfortunately none of the sound ideas is original and none of the original ideas is sound”. Some of us would argue that what was true of the Liberals in the 1960s remains true of the Lib Dems and, arguably, all parties of the left today. But, when it comes to considering public policy ideas for London espoused by any party, there are not only unsound original ideas and unoriginal sound ideas, but some ideas that manage the unique feat of being both unoriginal and unsound. One such egregious-yet-perennial bad ideas is women-only carriages on the London Underground.

Every few years this dubious proposal is dusted off and recycled for public consideration. The latest effort is a change.org petition that has been signed by nearly 15,000 people since September.

Of course, I understand why the idea gets refloated so often. Using public transport anywhere, not just the often heavily crowded network in our capital, can be........

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