Politics and hair transplant

In an age obsessed with physical appearance, politicians are as afraid as film stars of appearing pasty-faced or grey-haired, while baldness is box-office death.
It is more than a century since a slaphead beat "an hairy man" at a British general election, and the same rule applies in Italy, which is still haunted by the memory of one particular hairless leader. Mr Berlusconi recently instructed a balding colleague to acquire a set of "plugs", as the Americans refer to hair transplants, in order to make himself electable.
Lesser politicians should not be in too much of a hurry to follow suit, however. Cosmetic changes can go disastrously wrong if done on the cheap. Thinning backbenchers should think twice before investing in a cut-price transplant that produces the "doll's hair" effect associated with superannuated cabaret singers.
As for wigs, one only has to observe the failure to climb the ministerial ladder of a certain Conservative MP who wears what appears to be a yellow lampshade on his head.
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