Tweeted by Lord Hain just before Christmas:
"With my very best hairdressers Jackie & Lucy Hers & Sirs Resolven"
I have to say it's great to see Peter Hain supporting local businesses and he looks immaculately coiffured as well as manicured. I'm obviously missing out by getting Mrs Stan to give me a Number 1 shear every few weeks. He also looks remarkably well tanned for what has been a dismal Summer, Autumn and Winter here in Wales. Maybe he hasn't spent a lot of time here? Or while the rest of us grow webbed feet perhaps he just goes rusty.
And what an appropriate seasonal photograph, with his two subjects in the arms of the Lord, one could say. But that jumper he is wearing! It's so ......... well, it's so drab! Good Lord, Peter, it's Christmas - put something bright and festive on it like a snowflake or a donkey!
I'm actually made a bit uncomfortable by the tweeting of the photo which I find almost patronising. When politicians, be they past or present (especially outside of election time) are pressing the flesh of the hoi polloi and advertising it like that, I'm always asking myself "What's that all about? What are they really trying to tell you?"
I can't help feeling that the photo looks similar to those you see in local newspapers when someone gets an award from a local dignitary. So correct me on that one. It's not "almost patronising". It's bang in your face, without a shadow of doubt, smack me with a wet kipper, as blatant an example of patronisation as you could come across. "You have the honour of cutting the hair of such a famous person in this village backwater. Plus a photo with the local Lord, with his arms around you, and look - I even send you a Christmas card".
A recommendation from Lord Hain might be regarded as a bit of a two-edged sword. Remember, he used to frequent Resolven Rugby Club on Saturday evenings and wrote about it and look what happened to attendances there. I can't help but notice his endorsement of the hairdressing business on Twitter (he has an astounding 16.2K followers!) has been retweeted by ......no-one and "liked" by ......one! One solitary soul in social media land. How do you work that out? There are two bleedin' hairdressers in it!
You can just make out the handwritten message on both cards. I'm pretty sure it says "Thanks for the haircuts.....Peter and Elizabeth". It's good to see Hain and his wife get a haircut from his former constituents. Because we've been getting one for years from him and his (former) fellow MPs as they have trimmed, cut and scalped us, all the while keeping themselves in the best of shape.
I know - you are wondering did he give them a tip? No idea, though it might have been "Don't buy Amara shares. They are taking a real hammering. But I can recommend you an excellent book on saving the Western World ...... if you're interested".
Finally, if the proprietors of the hairdressers are in the photo, and if Peter Hain is in the photo, I wonder who was behind the camera? Was it Liz?
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Coming up in 2016
1. The Mayor - time to go?
2. TV Licensing Authority - just a bunch of bullies?
3. NPT Council and a former Director of Environment - what's been going on?
4. Lord Prescott - his personal contribution to global warming
5. Welsh Assembly Elections (Neath area) - who are the runners?
6. The Ynysarwed Donkey - further adventures
..................... in no particular order
