I feel strongly that any association of citizens in a free society should be allowed to make its own rules. But this ban is absurd
Do clubs matter? Yes, to their members, and clearly yes to those they exclude. When Alexis de Tocqueville compared American democracy with British, he said America’s roots were in the mob and Britain’s in the club. Americans vote for a president who doesn’t sit in Congress. Britons vote for a member of parliament, a tight-knit Westminster club.
The revived argument over London’s Garrick Club would have been music to De Tocqueville’s ears. Here we go again, a gang of London elitists ruling the land from a Covent Garden palace untainted by plebs or women. And this in the 21st century. Give us a break.
Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist
