I Say!

          It’s a little late in life to read PG Wodehouse for the first time, but I have just been enjoying Bertie Wooster’s stories and, especially, his colloquialisms. Not that I identify with toffs or even remotely approve of them, but they are as much a part of our culture as is the lampooning literary tradition that mocks them. This, and much else, has seeped into my consciousness, just as terroir finds its way into grapes. And the older the rootstock, the richer the wine. Perhaps this is also why, last week, I was able to appreciate the People Show’s latest production, God Knows How Many, a loosely joined-up string of scenarios that draw on the company’s long history and relies for its success on the audiences’ capacity to join the dots – of which I connected more than a few.

          But in the process of soaking up stuff, do we ultimately become like a sponge that has reached saturation? In staying in touch with old friends it has become evident that I have a preference, for the most part, to meet for coffee, lunch or dinner in places where we can comfortably talk. Current affairs may well be on the agenda but so is our mutual past and, in that case, we will be sitting and talking about the things that we once went out and did. Having mostly gone our separate ways in the meantime, opportunities to pursue future adventures together do not present themselves spontaneously and, though they are not ruled out, there is the hurdle of “been there, done that” which can suck the allure out of a proposal.

          Besides, is anything new? I have just been presented with a book of vegan and vegetarian recipes, which is very useful in this time of increased interest in such diets. I have already used it several times and keep it with the Indian vegetarian and Macrobiotic recipe books that I have had since 1970. Is this a case of something coming back into fashion or is it evidence of a good idea gaining traction at last? Time will tell, but I favour the traction theory since it implies that there is progressive acceptance and adoption of unfamiliar yet valuable traditions. There is always an advance party – in the case of British vegetarians they were Victorians – and some movements take longer than others to gain acceptance, but I take hope from John Peel’s observation that today’s underground will become tomorrow’s pop.

          But there is a downside to the traction theory, which is that it may apply to undesirable trends – such as the rise of populist governments and the attendant loss of liberal values. Those who support such regimes may do so in the hope that they will benefit economically but they should beware the tendency for their leaders to become despots who plead necessity for every infringement of human freedom that they impose. Considering this, I was drawn to watch a documentary called Talking About Trees, which is about four Sudanese men who, before cinema was banned in 1991 under Sharia law, had been involved in film making in Khartoum. Around 2018, they tried to re-open a cinema and show a film chosen by local people but were ultimately refused permission by the agents of state security. I was especially saddened by the outcome, since I had worked in Sudan, long ago, when the regime was more liberal. The protagonists, however, were fatalistic: as one of them reminded us, they have endured colonialism, followed by three democracies and three dictatorships.

          But hope is now on the horizon. Since the film was made the dictator, Omar al-Bashir, has been deposed and, just this week, referred to the International Criminal Court for war crimes. If this is the dawn of a less repressive era in Sudan, they might be encouraged to try again. As an optimistic Bertie Wooster would say, “Everything will turn out oojah-cum-spiff, eh what?”