Beard Liberation Front
15th October
Green Party leader Zack Polanski has been voted Beard of Autumn 2025, shaving Gary Neville for the honour
The BLF is often asked what criteria are used to determine the shortlist.
The two key ones are:
Someone who has worn a beard (not necessarily permanently) in the quarter
Someone whose beard has presented a positive profile of the hirsute in the public eye.
However the numbers of potential candidates for the shortlist are often far greater than the capacity of eight names.
Here the Reverse Hegseth Test is useful
Hegseth the self styled US War Secretary recently summoned a meeting of top US military types. He made it clear that the military are not ‘Woke’. It might be thought that the main criteria should be professionalism and capacity but Hegseth was keen to underline that there should be no Beardos.
Also those who were concerned about climate changed or appeared or dressed in a manner Hegseth does not approve of are out.
For the BLF Awards the reverse Hegseth Test applies. Beards are essential and socially progressive views are important. As ever how people wish to dress and appear is entirely up to them.
The cartoon at the top of the post comes from the New Statesman
Beard of Autumn shortlist
Lenny Henry, actor
Gary Neville, football pundit
Gary Oldman, actor
Robbie Savage, Manager Forest Green Rovers
Chris Woakes, cricketer
Asad Rehman, Friends of the Earth
Zack Polanski, Green Party leader
Jimmy Kimmel, US TV anchor
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