Westminstenders: The Mask is Slipping

[RedToothBrush]

This week has seen the department of the Chancellor who launched a 50p piece, the serious contemplation of a tin pot bridge, the rebirth of eugenics as a subject for cabinet, the announcement of the end of the BBC as we know it, the cabinet chanting after the PM in a way Orwell would be proud of, suppression of a report into trade deals which dares to mention the effect of distance and geography, worrying signs of an ever growing rift with Europe over negotiations for a deal, an appointment which starts to make our membership of the ECHR look very dodgy and there have been rather a lot of floods which so far seemed to have escaped the attention of those in London busy in their own swamp.

It's becoming apparent very quickly just how Trump like our new government are and how they want the UK to emulate the very worst aspects of America.

We are falling fast and its not looking like it will be pretty.

All we need is a major global issue to test our national resilience and the incompetence will truly be laid bare for us all to see... But not necessarily speak of. Such us the way it works.

Brexit Britain is not a nice looking prospect.

Quite apart from the proliferation of barbers, hairdressers and tanning bars resulting in no one really looking groomed and glowing, what about the huge numbers of clothes shops stuffed to the rafters with the latest styles apparently leading to most of the population looking scruffy in poorly fitting jeans, baggy jumpers and bobble hats? Well Dominic Cummings at least. Perhaps it’s his fault.

Actually DC wears a beanie. My bad. Though a bobble would help if he ever gave his head a wobble, which he should.

Maybe it's because we have a lot of cheap clothes which don't wear well and soon look scruffy. Partly, scruffy is the fashion - I was looking at buying some jeans yesterday, and they already come with rips. No thanks.

Oh Peregrina you and I should definitely start wearing ripped jeans. When ladies of a certain age take up the latest fashions, the yoof drop them immediately.
My grey hair is the envy of some of my younger colleagues, though. They go to great lengths to dye their hair grey and complain bitterly because mine “looks so natural”. I have been asked if I dye it...

Me too :)
Mine is steely grey, cut quite short.
I always wear dangly earrings as studs look a bit meh with short hair.

The increase in the number of barbers is down to money laundering????

Nothing at all to do with the fact they are always busy with young men getting their hipster beards and quiffs groomed?

And being far too bristled and manly to get it done in a hairdressers, unisex is out

It’s just market trends, not money laundering!

It is one of the ironies of life that mousey blonde hair turns to mousey grey hair, no silver vixen look for me.

Isn't it a "well known fact" that in some parts of SE Asia, barbers double up as "happy parlours" after hours ? Frank Skinner did a routine about being warned to make sure he went at the right time when he was on holiday ...

Nothing at all to do with the fact they are always busy with young men getting their hipster beards and quiffs groomed?

I have a pass from DW to treat myself one day to a proper old-style cut-throat razor shave . Although it would have to work around my goatee .

DS has a favourite barber in town. They serve beer for customers while waiting ...

Another eschewer of hair dye here
and hairdressers
and new clothes shops

maybe the economic gloom is my fault

Oooh, born I have (naturally at 63) grey hair, cut short
Am I actually fashionable now, for the first time in my life ?! 😂

Invest in some ripped jeans, BCF, and you’re good to go.

I have grey hair (am 52) - I was always dark so I am very steely grey now, especially in artificial light. No hairdye here, I stopped that nonsense when I was 39.

YY to dangly earrings, I have about 120 pairs.

I have several pairs of ripped jeans - some of them date back to the 80's
does that make me trendy or just frugal

Both trendy and frugal, Listening. Win win!

MN ops, can you please move this thread to style and beauty?

Wahey, are we stylish and beautiful?

To me, you all are

My hair is resolutely not grey. Which strikes an annoying contrast with my beard - which is almost exclusively grey.

I did get as far as investigating chemical solutions before I wised up and decided to own it

But the ponytail stays.

Back to brexit - I saw someone mention au pairs on another thread and how they wouldnt be available anymore?

That's odd, DG as it's usually the other way round:

I thought hair usually turns grey several years before beards & moustaches - an elderly friend told me that was because his facial hair was 20 years younger than his head hair.

Brexit: UK reneging on Northern Ireland pledges risks trade deals with US and EU

and noone else would trust a country that's just broken on international treaty

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/feb/23/brexit-uk-reneging-on-northern-ireland-pledges-risks-trade-deals-with-us-and-eu

Concerns raised after reports
negotiating team told to devise plans to ‘get around’ protocol in withdrawal agreement

Top civil servants on Tories' 'hit list'

Priti Patel is govt mainstream - a feature, not a bug
Plan is to remake the neutral civil service into a Tory one

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/02/22/top-civil-servants-tories-hit-list/

Downing Street hoping to replace key permanent secretaries over concerns they are at odds with ministers

Boris Johnson wants to replace a series of mandarins as part of a move to change dramatically the approach in some of Whitehall’s most influential departments,
Tory sources claim.

Senior Tories said No 10 sees Sir Tom Scholar, the Treasury permanent secretary, who previously led David Cameron’s attempted renegotiations with the EU, as “offside” on Brexit and his approach to the economy.

Sir Tom is said to top a “s---list” of permanent secretaries No 10 wants replaced over claims that they are significantly at odds with Tory ministers and advisers,
who have been buoyed by Mr Johnson’s landslide election win.

The disclosure comes after a major row between Priti Patel and Sir Philip Rutnam, the Home Office permanent secretary, boiled over last week
with the disclosure that the Home Secretary had attempted to remove her top official after a series of clashes

That's odd, DG as it's usually the other way round

Yes, well I have some very weird genetics at play with the whole Mediterranean thing, sadly not always in a good way.