I have a feeling the basic tenet of The Daily Telegraph’s “Rude Sydney” piece is a little nuts. Three Tele staffers, photographer in tow, out on the town, the crack of
an
editor’s
crop
“conducting a little experiment”. Now I don’t have a
science
degree, I
did
enjoy biology and once tinkered with the idea of being
a
veterinarian, but
this
ain’t good science.

The Tele pronounces Sydney beyond reproach. Rude as hell.
Letters,
forums,
radio
re-hashes concur.

My mother always ‘clipped me over the ear’ whenever I dropped a ‘g’
or
an
‘h’.
I always opened the door for a LADY, a word that my
post-feminist,
post
modern
art school training erased and replaced with ‘woman’
and for a
while,
‘wimin’. I
was a nice boy and I’m sure I could drum up a
few
testimonials.

If Sydney is rude and full of selfish men like me then The Daily Telegraph’s story is a weak body of evidence.

As Campbell Reid won’t write to me, I will write to you.

CRIKEY: Raymond’s full response is packaged up on the website with
the
rest
of
our “Rude Sydney” beat-up coverage here.

Meanwhile, a frustrated Sydney commuter writes:

About three weeks ago I wrote a tirade to The Telegraph and the Herald letters
sections regarding the rudeness of Sydney’s commuters.
My
frustration
at this
was first brought on by the treatment of my wife
while
pregnant last
year and
only grew as I saw the same treatment of pregnant
and
elderly people
time and
time again. My letter didn’t get published and I
must
admit a sense of
‘stolen
thunder’ at seeing The Telegraph story. I wouldn’t go so far as to claim credit
for their inspiration
to
write
the story, but equally don’t consider it
unfathomable.

As for your reader Josh Raymond, I would suggest that he didn’t get
of
his
arse
to offer the pregnant woman a seat and I’d also suggest that
there
were
no
seats available on that bus. I say this only because I
have
been
catching
Sydney busses, and paying attention to the behaviour of
its
commuters,
long
enough to know this to be far more likely than not. Plus
I
cannot help
but
sense some contradiction in his being so terribly
embarrassed
about
this
situation only to publicise it further in your e-zine.
Many people
may
have
seen his photo, but many fewer would have known who he was
until he
wrote
to
you. He also fails to repeat his accusation that the bus he
was on
had
many
vacant seats in his letter to The Tele. Me thinks he protests to much…

I’m loath to defend The Telegraph as I consider it a rag of the lowest order;
however Sydney’s commuters
are
an
indignant and rude lot and deserve to be
shamed.

Yours truly, Pablo Berrutti

And another reader sends this tip from Perth:

I hear Perth’s Sunday Times assigned a reporter to the peak hour arvo trains
yesterday to do
its
own
version of The Tele‘s “rude Sydney” story.