The nazi in the off licence

Yesterday evening I went into the off licence at about a quarter past nine and stopped on the threshold with some shock. It was crammed with braying young men, exuding alcohol fumes and wearing a variety of WWII army uniforms and in the centre there was a chap wearing jackboots and a swastika.

I didn't say anything - one small middle aged woman, not feeling very well, was not about to start a confrontation with half a dozen enormous lads who probably play rugby - but my feelings must have been all over my face, because another of them, not uniformed but wearing stained formal dinner dress, said 'We won the war, bitch'.

There was a good deal of kerfuffle because the card they were using was refused and it took them some time to make alternative arrangements, and there were loud jokes about 'revision parties' and how much longer it would take 'the girls' to get ready, and I just kept staring at this strapping great lad in his Nazi uniform in appalled wonder.

Then I remembered an older teacher at school's comment when one of the class, reading aloud, mispronounced the word 'nazi'. Everyone laughed, and she said 'This kind of thing makes me very happy, because it tells me that a generation is growing up untouched by this awful part of our history'. I could see her point, but I'm not convinced. Across Europe, we're trying to extirpate the celtic cross from football grounds. It does have a contemporary meaning; it's not something lost in the mists of history.. I wanted to know what this lad thought he was doing, why he'd made the choice,and whether he understood what his uniform represented. I wondered too why the other lad had reacted so aggressively to my facial expression, and how exactly 'winning the war' made it OK. They were plainly drunk, but presumably there was some point when the choice was made when they weren't drunk. And drunkenness is not really an excuse, ever. By that I mean that people may do things when drunk that they wouldn't do sober, but alcohol, removing inhibitions, reveals what's underneath. And what was underneath in the case of some,at least, of these privileged young men was loutish - ignorant, discourteous and loutish.