I stopped going to pubs a while ago of course, but one of the pubs I used to go to quite regularly was the Banker’s Draft in Eltham. It was a friendly Whetherspoon’s, and I came to know the staff and clientele there fairly well. Having stopped drinking though, I hadn’t been in there in ages. However, something happened this afternoon which I think I ought to record here: I was just going past the pub when two fairly young men standing outside of it holding pints thought it would be funny to try to take the piss by shouting ‘Timmah!’ I’d barely noticed them, but their insult made me immediately furious. I’m sorry, but I refuse to be the butt of some uneducated chav’s joke.

I stopped and told them to shut up, which they seemed to find funny. They started insulting me more, so I decided to go into the pub and ask the bar staff not to serve them. What else could I do? I absolutely refuse to just let such things slide. Ignoring it would simply allow it to continue; and I am too proud of what I have achieved to tolerate being the object of some imbecile’s ridicule.

Inside the pub, however, I was just told to calm down – it quickly became obvious that the staff had no intention of doing anything, and the two men would carry on being served. I left still feeling quite furious. Here’s the thing, though: if I had been a member of any other minority, say a black guy, and those two men had started spouting racial slurs, would it have been similarly tolerated? Would the black guy have just been told to ignore it? Would the two racist thugs have been allowed to continue to drink? Probably not, so why is it acceptable when they do it to me?

The problem is, this is happening more and more. A few days ago I wrote about schoolchildren thinking it was funny to take the piss, but I’m not just getting it from children. To be honest, I suspect it is a consequence of the rise of right-wing politics: as such reactionary stupidity has become more popular, people think they no longer have to abide by the social rules of tolerance and decency. Taking their cue from morons like Farage and Yaxley-Lennon, they think it a sign of masculinity and bravado to start hurling insults at those they assume can’t shout back. That is why it is essential that I don’t just let things like what happened this afternoon slide.