The Call of the Beard - Standing by Paxo

The two hundredth posting has come round and faced with the challenge of thinking of something worthy to say I have chickened out. Instead I will engage with the Paxo beard debate 24 hours too late.

So Jeremy Paxman rocks up on Newnight with a rather fetching grey beard and lots of people say it looks shit.  The man himself implies that he is resisting a BBC led oppression of facial hair. As somebody who has recently ventured in the land of beard I feel the need to come to the mans defence.

For a man to yield to the beard is a liberating experience, but not necessarily a permanent change. Yes it makes one look old and the bristles are not always a vote winner with ones partner. And people will think that it denotes a shifty untrustworthy desire to conceal possibly linked to a desire to interfere with the young. This may all be true but getting to a stage in life when one can give the proverbial bird to the tyranny of shaving is a small victory against the crappy stuff that makes us behave.

To echo the sentiments expressed by Mr P, the beard is for me, not for you. I goes when I am ready. My choice.