Imagine you’re watching a movie. The hero, in spite of a slew of character flaws, has already survived a number of conflicts, and we’re approaching the story’s climax. Everything depends on the hero being at a certain place at a certain time. People are relying on him, waiting on him. There is nothing to stop him arriving on time beyond a certain streak of self-destructiveness. What does he do?

He goes to the pub. He drinks. He arrives at the certain place but the time is two hours late. People have given up waiting. Still, there’s one last chance at redemption, if he can take responsibility for his own actions and acknowledge his fault. But he doesn’t. Instead, he blames someone else. He blames them loudly, publicly, violently, and apparently without self-awareness.

Are you still rooting for him? Really?

This, by some accounts, is what led to what the BBC called a ‘fracas’.

There’s being tired and emotional because you’ve been working hard all day, including some overtime, and then getting really cranky because you’ve not had a chance to eat and realise that that chance to eat will not come. And then there’s being ‘tired and emotional‘ (in the Private Eye sense) because you chose to go to the pub, chose to arrive late, and then flew into a rage because a hotel chef (who probably does work long hours) went home instead of waiting for you to arrive.

Interesting how so many people turned this into a narrative about free speech, when it’s really a narrative about selfishness, egotism, and poor timekeeping.