Queueing, we have been told since time immemorial, is a traditional British institution.
It’s part of who we are. Not for us the continental-style scrum to get what we want. That’s for savages. It’s “first come, first served” or it’s the end of civilisation as we know it.
We love queueing so much, hundreds of otherwise sane people happily choose to queue overnight for Wimbledon and the Proms. We even insist on queueing to get on an aeroplane where we have an assigned seat, certain that someone else will steal 34C if we don’t stand needlessly for an hour before claiming what is rightfully ours.
No wonder there are complex mathematical formulas and scientific theories about the art of queuing.
But evidence is mounting that the British queueing gene is in danger of evolving out of existence.
According to a new study by the Department of We Haven’t Got Anything Better To Do at University College...
