That Iain Dale Tweet and Public Drunkenness

Many have tweeted and blogged on this, either defending Iain to the hilt or, in more cases, castigating Iain in rather unpleasant terms for what he tweeted. I can understand the latter if they do not know Iain and have only heard of him due to his tweet going viral.
Iain has put forward a strong defence here and it is this I want to address. First of all let's get the criticism out of the way. As I mentioned in my twitter feed I disagreed, and still do, with Iain's actions, namely the "slapper" comment and the taking of the photo. I accept Iain's comment about what the phrase may mean in Essex, but Iain must equally know how that phrase is seen elsewhere and how that may be interpreted. Taking a photo, whether that person was hiding their face or not also struck me as somewhat "off" shall we say, but then Iain does admit in his defence it wasn't very chivalrous. There is also the point that when we someone behaving badly as this woman seems to have done we do not know what is going on in their lives at that moment, but that is not a defence of the woman, merely an observation.
So that's the criticism. I would now like to point out a no of things, namely to Iain's harshest critics. 1) How well do you know Iain? As for me, I wouldn't say he is a friend, we don't mix in the same circles, but he is an acquaintance I get along with and he has been rather helpful and gracious to me (and others) over the years and I have not forgotten that. I have also heard one or two fellow lefties say he is one of the nice guys among the Thatcherite Conservatives and on that I agree. I may strongly disagree with his politics, but I do not doubt his thoughtfulness or his sincerity.
2) Do you travel to and from Central London on a regular basis, especially late at night? I haven't, but I do several times a month on occasion and it is not fun. There is the rush to get back home safely. The waiting for the train at a major station (in my case Kings Cross) and not feeling 100% safe, especially as there is more chance of you being bothered by strangers. Then there is the cattle trucks (as I tend to call them, although to be fair it has not been so bad lately), for the journey home, in finding a spare seat and a degree of personal space. Occasionally one has to deal with loud drunks and yes, many of them are possibly unhappy, and yes it could be any of us on the way home after a few at an event, but trust me. Being on the receiving end is unpleasant. I have had a drunk try and start a conversation with me when I was almost trapped in a crowd by one of the entrances and have pretended not to hear him. I have been stuck on a replacement coach at around 11PM. with an aggressive drunk on board holding up the journey (see my story here). Imagine facing that after a long day, a busy day, and you are tired and you just want to relax and go home! I disagree with Iain's actions but I can certainly see how he was provoked, and whilst his actions were wrong it does not confirm him as an obnoxious right-winger as some would have you believe, rather as someone who has been tired and exhausted and simply snapped. I don't agree with that, but cannot judge him due to, if nothing else, the times I have felt angry in similar situations.
But what does this say about our society? Iain is right, we do need a debate about public drunkenness and the horror it causes, and I have mentioned this before.Maybe I was wrong when I wrote that about the banning of alcohol (although I still see that as a strong option), but certainly we need perhaps tougher sentences as a deterrent, because this does raise the issues of public safety and well-being of others. Hopefully Iain's recent situation may bring that into the open.