Macready’s Club

“The men-only Garrick Club has finally voted to allow women to become members, 193 years after the London institution first opened its doors. The vote was passed with 59.98% of votes in favour at the end of a private meeting where several hundred members spent two hours debating whether to permit women to join . . . New analysis of the club’s rules by David Pannick KC, backed by senior lawyers including two former supreme court judges, concluded there was nothing to prevent women from being allowed to join, because the 1925 Law of Property Act advises that in legal documents the word “he” should also be read to mean “she”.” (The Guardian, 7th May 2024)

That’s all you need to know to enjoy this hilarious satire, authored by “a gentleman”. There are still a few copies in the Garrick Street branch of Waterstones where business has been brisk. It’s in the best traditions of British public school humour and I imagine Garrick members relish identifying themselves. To give you a flavour, six other clubs are mentioned: Blacks, The Wayfarers, The Lambchop, Jimmy’s, Stags and The Surf Club. It took me a moment to identify Jimmy’s and now I will forever think of it by that name.

Even the Disclaimer at the front is hilarious:

”This is a work of fiction that draws loosely on certain real events for the purposes of satire and nothing else. Names, characters, events, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination and are used in the pursuit of humour only. Any resemblance to actual persons, giving or dead, is unintended and coincidental.”

“You’re having me on”, as Frank Spencer liked saying. I was going to append a clip from Some Mothers Do ‘Ave Em but this is more relevant. It says a lot about the different forms of democracy in the UK and US that there could be no American equivalent to Yes, Minister although House of Cards transferred only too well.