Bruce Anderson

The spirit of Prohibition lives (if you’re a haggis)

The American character abounds in paradoxes. This is one of them

It is an old adage, but still pertinent. ‘Every generalisation about India is true, and so is the opposite.’ The other night, some of us were discussing the US and wondering if the same applied. Certainly, there are lots of paradoxes. Although Americans passionately believe that they live in the land of the free, there is plenty of enthusiasm for chains. A few years ago, the state of Vermont simultaneously legalised homosexual marriage and prohibited the serving of fried eggs unless they were ‘over easy’ — i.e. bent over. There is a terrible amount of food faddism. Outside the big cities, it is hard to find cheese made with raw milk, and the coral of scallops is routinely thrown away. In some states, there are moves to ban foie gras. There would probably be greater pressure to do so if more Americans had heard of the stuff. The prohibitory instinct did not expire with the repeal of Prohibition.

On a wall in Berry Bros & Rudd, there is a letter from one of the most idiotic Americans of all time, up there with Jimmy Carter: William Eugene ‘Pussyfoot’ Johnson. An advocate of Prohibition, he ran the Anti-Saloon League. Not content with making trouble in his own country, he had the nerve to visit England to try to propagate his noxious doctrine. There are worse afflictions than Mormons or Scientologists. He even wrote a letter to the reigning Berry, advising him to train his son for some other profession; the wine trade would not long endure.

The Berrys appear to have been delighted by his absurdity; they reacted rather as Mr Bennet did to the Revd Mr Collins. Elsewhere, however, the response was not so polite. Chaps did not laugh behind their hands, for they needed those hands to rough him up and throw stones at him.

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