Life in a liberal society means putting up with other people

Political garb is deeply annoying, whether it’s badges proclaiming the wearer’s pacifism or love of Jeremy Corbyn, or – my personal pet peeve – those checked scarves in the style of that worn by Yasser Arafat that denote solidarity with the Palestinian cause (and, I tend to presume, disavowal of Israel).

Even so, short of inciting hatred, which is against the law, there’s nothing much to be done about such vestments and adornments. People are free to wear what they want, however politically grating, and this kind of freedom is key to the way this country operates and should be actively policed.

So I was concerned last week to read that a theatre had to apologise for something it should never have done, or considered doing, in the first place: barring a woman from entering because she wore a pro-EU badge. Vicki Elcoate had turned up to the Adelphi on the Strand in London with her daughter for a performance of the musical Waitress and was prevented from entering unless she removed her “Forever EUropean” lapel badge – which she’d worn at a People’s Vote march hours previously. She was told by the man who refused her entry that political slogans were banned at the theatre. Eventually, after a huge and “embarrassing” queue developed, she did so and rightly spent the performance fuming.

Plenty of people in the UK find Remainiacs – their garb, slogans and views – deeply irksome. Does that mean they should be saved from having to see them express themselves? Of course not. Living in a liberal society means suffering the irritation of other people’s freedoms. Britain has been nannyish in temperament for a while – breathing down our necks about what we can and cannot eat, say and so on. We have to be careful we don’t also become repressive by fostering cultural institutions that forbid people – or even think about forbidding people – who turn up wearing the wrong thing.