Paxboy, where are you getting the impression that the airlines have asked the CAA and/or politicians to do "the dirty work", and are somehow passing the buck? Genuine question. I'm quite heavily involved in these issues and I'm not aware of any approach to the CAA by any industry association or individual carrier. What the CAA have done is issue press releases based on a hundred and odd MOR events in the last year. Industry wasn't consulted on that release and the true figure is much, much higher. Sure, you need the regulators on message and on side, but believe me, the industry don't expect regulators or politicians to solve it for us.
As for not enforcing our own rules, we do as an airline industry try to enforce all of the rules that we set on board. Anyone involved with disruptive behaviour on our flights are either denied further carriage, put on stricter conditions of carriage, or reported to police for prosecution dependent on the level of behaviour, and I'm not aware of any UK carrier that acts differently. The fact is that sometimes people board sober(ish) and then neck spirits secretly, or take drugs, or they just act badly towards their fellow pax or crew, and won't listen to reason when challenged. Can you tell me what more we should be doing?