Over the years, I’ve rolled my eyes at many, many protests. I’ve disagreed with what people are saying; why they’re saying it; how they’re saying it. But rarely can I think of something that has ticked as many boxes as this proposed protest. Not because it’s anything massive, and not because it’s something I’d get massively worked up about. Just because it’s wrong on most levels.

Belfast bus drivers plan to stage a series of protests throughout the city in a row over dedicated bus lanes.

The union, Unite, said Metro drivers were calling for a ballot for industrial action.

This was to highlight the difficulties of providing a “first class transport system with uninterrupted bus lanes”.

Public transport

While not the worst thing ever, not is it the be-all or end-all. It’s a nifty way to get about, on occasion, but I find that on the 360 days of the year when I’m not using it, it causes much more annoyance than it’s worth. In this country, at least. Your mileage may vary.

Dedicated bus lanes

Right up there with ‘things that piss me off a lot, and regularly'; my commute to work is down a single lane of traffic, because a buslane takes up the other half of the road. And the cameras… oy

Strike action

Generally something for which I have little support. How many strikes have I agreed with in the last number of years? None that spring to mind, at any rate…

“first class transport system with uninterrupted bus lanes”

Oh sweet baby Jaysus, you can tell that one of them would be very, very expensive. Not, of course, for the people who use it, but for the rest of us whose journeys will be lengthened by the reduction in road space and the poor saps who have to pay the tax that’ll always end up supporting it.

As I say, nothing that’d get me out on the streets in any counter-protest, just a lot of low-grade annoyances. Such is life, I’m afraid.