My Take | Why the fuss over Tony Blair’s long hair?
- Now the former British prime minister only needs to grow a beard to make his new Gandalf look complete
When the fashion editors of both the Financial Times and The New York Times round on your new look, you know you have messed up royally. That’s because with respected publications such as those, even the fashion writers have to analyse the socio-economic and political implications, and not just your newly grown mane.
Former British prime minister Tony Blair was on television talking about another Scottish referendum on independence, or was he? No one seems to remember anything, except his overflowing grey hair.
“It was truly terrifying to behold,” wrote Jo Ellison of the Financial Times. “Hopefully, this merciless drubbing of a man who has let his hair down during lockdown should be a sufficient prompt to any gentleman leaning towards the Branson that this is absolutely not the way to go.
“Long hair on an older man just screams: ‘Women, steer clear of me.’ I’m sorry lads, the locks have got to go.”
The New York Times’Vanessa Friedman was equally unforgiving. “What is it with male politicians and their hair these days?” she wrote. “It’s not as if Mr Blair would have lacked access to home hair-care tools.”
Granted, Brits tend to be very harsh with their former leaders, unlike Americans; Friedman was the previous Financial Times fashion editor.