Beard Liberation Front
6th April
Contact Keith Flett 07803 167266
Telegraph columnist claims beards are no longer a symbol of Britain’s imperial power.
A Daily Telegraph columnist Michael Deacon has claimed that beard wearing has become a symbol of ‘left-wing self-righteousness’ with beard wearers being suspected of being lefties. According to Deacon in the nineteenth century ‘beards were a symbol of British Greatness’
If nothing else this suggests that Deacon’s grasp of beard history is a little lacking. He has apparently not heard of two of the greatest, UK based, beard wearers, Marx and Engels. In the modern day he also seems aware that the current Tory Cabinet is almost entirely clean shaven. On Deacon’s analysis this would mean correctly that’s its not left-wing but it would also mean that it doesn’t represent or aspire to imperial greatness, which is also clearly true.
Beyond Deacon’s entertaining if rather silly column is a harder reality. Facial hair is not left or right-wing, it all depends on culture, context and a genuine understanding of follicular history.
As a result, I fear that facial hair will forever now be associated with Left-wing self-righteousness. It’s a sad thought. Once upon a time, beards were a proud symbol of British greatness. During the Victorian era, every self-respecting man in Britain had a beard the size of a yew tree. And those, don’t forget, were the days when Britain ruled the world. The zenith of our nation’s power and status. Can it really be mere coincidence that as the popularity of the beard waned over the course of the 20th century, so too did our country’s global influence?
Daily Telegraph 5th April
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