Let's not get all puritanical over gap years

12 April 2012

Was it a combination of ideological bitterness plus the headiness of Twitter which prompted Kia Abdullah, who has also written for the Guardian online, to tweet of the three young friends killed in a Thailand coach crash: "Is it really awful that I don't feel any sympathy for anyone killed in a gap year I actually smiled when I saw that they had double-barrelled names."

The editor of The Guardian, Alan Rusbridger, made the distinction between paid-up Guardian writers and those who contribute freely online. But if the future for The Guardian is digital, what are the editorial responsibilities now for contributors? Do you apply the controls over the printed word in the no man's land of the internet?

The Huffington Post, which launches this week, is described as the new economic model of journalism.

Columnists write what they like, for free. The style that works best in the blogosphere is provocative and conversational. What Abdullah wrote was astonishingly cruel for the families of the boys but an authentic Marxist position. Systems trump people. The loathing of the middle classes is an article of faith.

As a matter of fact, double-barrelled names are not a sure sign of privilege. Feminism and globalism have made surnames much more complicated. But even if the boys had all been Misters Brideshead Revisited, does Miss Abdullah, who removed her remarks only because of peer pressure, believe they have forfeited the right to be human?

Of course there is comedy in the gap year experience. Matt Lacey's Gap Yah sketch, in which "Orlando" describes the combination of spiritual experience and "chundering" to "Tarquin", is brilliantly done. Perhaps Abdullah failed to realise that it was parody.

The columnist Liz Jones went on to take a more measured position, expressing sympathy for the families of the boys who died while agreeing with the Abdullah sentiment that "surely impoverished parts of the world need to be seen as more than a playground or a learning curve for the better off". This would be as helpful as banishing all tourism on the grounds that it is patronising or imperialist. Gap year destinations have been canny about the market. I have chuckled to hear of middle-class youths going off to help turtles/work in orphanages and being charged hotel rates.

As for the argument that they would do better working in supermarkets learning about the real world, why is this morally superior to romantic adventure? The gap year kids I know have all worked behind the counter to raise money for trips. The ones I fear for are those who find working to pay for a round of drinks an Arcadian existence. It is not just the callousness of Abdullah I despair of but her utilitarianism. See the world while you can! Go! Go!

All eyes on the honeymoon

And the bride wore a veil of tears. For those who believe in fairytale royal weddings, Princess Charlene of Monaco has proved a troubling role model. She is alleged to have tried to escape three times before the wedding, once taking refuge in the South African embassy in Paris. But the city, already fed up with complaining women and the damage they have caused the possible future president, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, reportedly gave no refuge to Charlene. Now the royal couple are to honeymoon in Cape Town. The last honeymoon there that captured the attention of the newspapers was that of Shrien and Anni Dewani. Could someone quickly script a happy ending?

Private sector can't preach over pensions

It is an impeccable economic argument against public sector pensions to say that the country can no longer afford them. I am more uneasy with the self-righteous outpourings from those with private sector pensions that because we are screwed, so should be the public sector. I admired the cool response on Radio 4 from a public sector spokeswoman that the answer is to try to improve the way the private pensions are run rather than attack state pensions. Whenever I try to argue the merits of the private sector - its work ethic, incentives and efficiency - I remember the behaviour of the banks and my high ground turns to a sandbank.

Similarly, until it can be satisfactorily explained why we have made such a pig's ear of private pensions so that no one bothers to save for one, and those who do find their investments turning to thin air, we in the private sector are in no position to get high and mighty.

Failure doesn't mean no desire

The usual criticisms have been made against Andy Murray - no fire in his belly, doesn't want it hard enough etc. It sounded to me from his flat, drained voice after his Wimbledon defeat that desire was not a problem. He had correctly diagnosed what counted was more work, more hardship. To his credit, he dismissed sympathetic commiserations about unlucky shots. Luck is for wimps.

In a charming Sunday magazine interview with the young pianist Benjamin Grosvenor and his brother, who has Down's syndrome, Benjamin spoke wistfully of his brother's capacity for relaxation and pleasure. His own road was a stony one: to practise, to practise, to practise. It is impudent of us to suggest that the stars of sport and the arts are taking it easy.

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