For more than 50 years I have assumed that any sensible person will be a right-winger, even if not all of them will admit it, and that this will be especially true of oenophiles There are exceptions. Harry Waugh, a clubman, author – Bacchus on the Wing is especially good – and merchant-connoisseur, was one of the most delightful wine experts of the last century. It was an education to sit with him as he talked his way through a good bottle, which effortlessly became a good several bottles. Moreover, Harry lived to be 97.
I spent far too little time in his company and cannot remember his ever talking about politics. Why on earth should he? There were far more important topics to consider. But it is said that during the 1930s he was briefly in the Communist party. Perhaps, like others, he was motivated by a fear of fascism abetted by illusions about Stalin’s Russia. Anyway, if there was any such infection, it was transient.
One would also assume that the wine trade is immune to wokery. Alas, there are exceptions, including a most unlikely one. The buyers of Waitrose know their stuff and provide a good service at reasonable prices. But one of their experts has now been suspended for circulating un-PC views. This included a cartoon from Matt, the prince of that genre. A schoolmaster is telling two parents that their son is doing very badly in sex education. He could name only 47 out of the 100 genders. Anyone who objects to that must have had a radical humour-ectomy. In retaliation, one ought to consider boycotting Waitrose.
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