I'd Rather Be A Publican

I've written before on the topic of faux nouveau Republicanism, the fake new idea of a grand old ideal. Then, in sudden serendipitous insight, I saw the link between two institutions of the ancient Pax Britannia.

In Chesterton's The Flying Inn, he pulls a similar trick to one he had played elsewhere and presents us with the conundrum of a tavern where there isn't one. This gets around the morbid stricture of compulsory abstinence inflicted by the villainous authorities.

Fast-forward to the very recent past, and we get The Economist's 16 Dec 2010 take on a similar problem. Except, of course, that the former was inflicted by authority without accountability, and this latter is inflicted by authority without identity.

The right to social gathering, lubricated by good food and drink, is an essential human right when taken in the context of what it means to be a human in a human society. If anybody discriminates against you because of your reasonable assertion of this right, that body deserves to be cast out of the civilised society you share.

It follows then that the gift and capacity of hosting such social gatherings, and providing the necessary and appropriate lubrication, must be a noble capability indeed. Given the choice of being a false new Republican or a true old Publican, I know where I must stand.