Kindness Experiment Proves Londoners Are Lovely Too

Between barging people off the Tube and cutting them up in traffic, Londoners don’t generally have much time spare for random acts of kindness.

A new viral video campaign aims to debunk the steroytpe and prove that London dwellers really are happy to help a stranger in need, however.

Asking the question, ‘Are Londoners as rude as pople think?’ a trio of contrivided scenarios allows us to make up our own minds.

First there’s the older lady with a walking stick and a heavy suitcase who’s faced with a flight of stairs. A man coming in the opposite direction immediately offers to carry her bag… only to be rewarded with a flashmob rendition of ’(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher’.

Next, a chap dozes on the Tube, with a sign reading 'Wake me up at Clapham Junction ta! :)’ on his lap. When a fellow traveller does the decent thing, a flashmob singalong to 'Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go’ ensues.

Finally, a woman is barged (by, it turns out, a fellow flashmobber) and her groceries fall all over the pavement. A passerby rushes over to help her pick them up, receiving a version of 'He’s so lovely’ for his troubles.

Heart-warming stuff. So, would you help? Or would the fear of being publicly serenaded by a bunch of strangers put you right off?