Book - The best of AA Gill
We are all connected by more than divides us - 2005
I thought I’d buy this book of newspaper articles as unlike his other books, every sentence won’t have the F word. I was right.
I stopped buying the Sunday Times in 2016. I’ve never watched/listened to the news anyway and up until this point when the world went into a downward spiral, I’d pick up the ST 2-3 times a month, mainly for the columnists.
Having said that, I don’t recall any of these pieces, maybe the subject matter didn’t resonate with me or there was plenty more to read in the ST 10-parter. Maybe I just appreciate the writing even more now. The food reviews I can take or leave, as I did when I read them in the past. They have influenced me though in that I often talk about everything else until getting to the matter in hand. Which I’ll get to now.
The Sudan piece is startlingly beautiful as is Uganda, is his own favourite work as it spawned a campaign. His words about refugees are probably what I will remember most about this collection.
Refugees either bring out the very best in civilians or the very worst in people in uniform
In Lampedusa, we read about the kind locals - the people that see the refugees and help them and the terrible Europeans - us. We don't see them and talk about them as a problem. I’m reminded of how many Jews were displaced during WW2 and how many countries took them in after arriving on trains rather than by a shabby boat across dangerous seas.
‘That's the thing with the sea, it never looks guilty.
On the Georgian era (my favourite for architecture) ‘they ran out of names before they ran out of furniture’. In the promo for India, I also agree with his claim that Indians are the cleanest people in the world, in part because I am one and know how hygiene-obsessive we are. Conversely, his Monte Carlo article makes you never want to venture there. It’s filled with such gems such as ‘metered sex’ and ‘smells like the middle ages’.
On his native Scotland: ‘Scotland remains the worse country in Europe to eat in if you’re paying, and one of the finest if you’re a guest’. Not true, I’ve had mostly fabulous meals and No8 Lister Square formerly of Edinburgh was one of my faves.
AA Gill comments on the fact that there are no old people’s homes in Africa as I’ve assumed the same in India and large swathes of Asia where the old are revered instead of hidden away like in much of the western world. ‘It’s not a home, just like Battersea Dogs Home is not a home’. When we say ‘old people’s homes’ we mean hospices - where people go when they’ve been turfed out of their own homes. I’ve had first-hand experience of this during a short spell in healthcare recruitment and more recently as a trustee. I would never want anyone I know in such a place.
You can’t walk into an NHS hospital and be a racist. That condition is cured instantly.
I like to think this is true. This is from the last chapter Dying. He writes about his own diagnosis and how men have less chance of surviving cancer. On describing his hospital treatment, AA Gill echos my thoughts exactly about the NHS. Doctors explain that people die despite the NHS and its great doctors and care staff. It's the system.
The best of AA Gill is a fine read to get a grip on what’s been happening in the world over the last couple of decades with a few good foodie quips to lighten the load.