Patrick Leigh-Pemberton: Let’s stop taking ourselves so seriously

I do not think that anybody here can claim to be entirely free from prejudices. We all harbour them, and though they may not necessarily be vicious or in any way discriminatory, there is a level of supposition in all of our life philosophies that leads us to keep these thoughts lingering on, well past the point when it becomes possible to see that we are wrong.

For instance, I believe that anyone who gets an internship in the summer after first year is an overachieving, ambitious try-hard who is likely to burn out before they are thirty. The IR department have suggested that there is a perception of the IR second year students as sexist, racist, elitist and arrogant. I have, on plenty of occasions, had the chance to see that my view is not necessarily correct, and I would assume that the IR department would have had to review their admissions process if they believed that themselves. So, it is necessary for us all to review our prejudices every now and again, before we begin to wallow in a worldview that is fed by our own disgust of various groups and caused by a disturbing lack of curiosity that should surely preclude any academic success.

One prejudice that would surely be interesting to review now would be those against the men of the Kate Kennedy Club. I really don’t want to throw myself into this debate for many reasons, mostly because it really does bore me, but also because I am seriously interested in preventing Tarleton from keeping his BNOC crown next semester and thus don’t want to alienate a large part of the electorate.

Now, the KKC has become a club that is considered by some to be an elitist bunch (a barb they contest) who try to help others through charity. They are essentially an extension of the Liberal Democrats party – an extension of the Liberal Democrats that is about to throw a panto. Now, we all know about Christmas pantos. A bunch of minor celebrities who can no longer get bit parts on Holby City finally chuck in the towel that metaphorically represents their thespian integrity, chuck on a wig, and make the rest of us chuckle through an evening of audience interaction so intense the Police Commissioners’ Election Committee start taking notes. While guys don dresses, trousers, and mascara beards, Shakespearean Scholars assure us that this is what all theatre was like in the 16^th Century (yeah, but they didn’t have popcorn, and bearbaiting is so passé anyway). For the price of a pint, these gents give us an evening of fun. I have no doubt that it will prove to be an interesting evening.

A guy called Christy White-Spanner, who is a member of the St Andrews Revue here at St Andrews, has written the script, and given the various positive reviews of his previous work at the fringe, I am fairly confident in predicting that there will be awkwardness, possibly sexual, in the panto. Which makes it a little like Inbetweeners, but without the professional actors.

This is an evening during which we are invited to laugh at these guys, and see that they are perfectly capable of laughing at themselves (well, at least that the person who has written the script is able to laugh at his peers). That is what all students should be able to do. Why don’t we all take a leaf from their books and stop taking ourselves, and our ideas, so seriously? Just sayin’.