| |
About these ‘primitive’ men taking over streets
• I’VE become used to reading Sir Jonathan Miller’s jaundiced views but, frankly, I’m disappointed that a respected academic such as Steve Jones should have joined in with such an ungrounded comparison (Primitive man takes over streets, January 10).
He’s liable to lose my respect, for one – and, I suspect, that of his students at UCL.
Surely Cro-Magnons are known mainly for the superb works of cave art, never yet bettered in technique?
Does Professor Jones actually have any evidence for the Cro-Magnons getting rowdily drunk in public, standing on corners offering drugs, urinating blatantly on trees, or doing whatever else it is that’s upsetting him?
Does he find Camden’s people inappropriately attired? Has he perhaps run into some of his students living it up in Camden, and is he trying to tell somebody something?
All right, the streets of Camden lack the decorum of an academic symposium, but...
I’ve been a fairly frequent visitor to Camden during the past year. Camden Town is an area I’m happy to visit at night for dance-music events both during the week and on Sundays. I haven’t seen people there behaving noticeably worse than in other parts of London (such as Brixton, where there is a much higher risk of being shot, or my home town of Kingston which has screeching rowdies coming out of clubs late at night).
These critics’ only basis for comparison is the past, and people can hardly be expected to return to the hat-tipping and forelock-tugging manners of yesteryear.
Perhaps when Professor Jones has finished sounding off, he can try and be more realistic and find a way to participate in the cultural life of Camden instead of just “walking through” of an evening with his radar tuned to social decay.
Jennifer K Hadley
Surbiton
Vulgar fellows
• SPEAKING as a proud Cro-Magnon, I am becoming increasingly concerned at the vulgar and repellent behaviour of academics, neurologists and opera directors on our streets.
I understand they are primitive creatures but surely they (and the rest of us Cro-Magnons) would be better off if they remained in their ivory towers?
Malcolm Davey
Leroy Street, SE1
|
 |
|
| |
