I was dispirited, but not at all surprised, by the stir caused by the use of the word “faggot” in Nessa and Bryn’s rendition of “The Fairytale of New York” during “The Gavin and Stacey Christmas Special”.  And equally disappointed to hear Ruth Jones and Shane MacGowan’s defensiveness towards it. I’d rather have heard them say “WYV and man up!” (Further clarification of those initials would certainly have me in front of the moderation police again).

It is a sorry characteristic of the times we live in that snowflakes feel the need to judge the values of the past by those of the present.  No-one batted an eyelid when the song came out in 1987; which is not to say that it is acceptable now.  But to try to have it erased from something historical smacks at best of Denial and at worst of “1984”

At the same time I am appalled by TV channels showing programmes with titles like “It was Alright in the ‘80’s” as a vehicle for showing clips from shows such as “Love Thy Neighbour” with commentary from suitably offended luvvies saying how awful it was.  It is simply an excuse to present these shows again but tut-tutting from a high moral platform.

If those two standpoints seem contradictory they are not; it is the hypocrisy which separates the two and which is my objection.

And the thinking pervades liberal study too.  Take Kipling for example. Whatever his merits as poet, his critics focus on Kipling himself as an apologist for colonialism.  “So what?” I say.  If you’d have been around at the end of the nineteenth century you’d have been a colonialist too. 

You’ll disagree with me.  But to return to the theme of judging the values of one era by the values of another, I ask you this: what values do you now buy into which in 100 years time will be unacceptable or even illegal?  Might it be keeping pets? Cutting wood? Bathing in water?  The answer, of course, is you don’t know, just as Kipling can’t be held accountable by today’s standards.

So next time you hear yourself deploring something from the past for being unacceptable by today’s values, just ask yourself what you’re doing and saying today which your great grandkids would be ashamed of.