Did anyone else feel more than a little patronised by some of the meeja commentary around the recent local elections?
Oh no! Party leaders are turning up at polling stations in clothes of a different colour to that which traditionally represents their party. This will confuse the voters no end… Hello?
Are we really all clutching our tiny heads in the polling booth, wailing: “I don’t know what to do! The Labour leader wore a navy coat and the Conservative leader wore a red jacket. What does that mean? Have they switched sides?
“And Nicola Sturgeon wore red instead of yellow. Do I go with the ginormous rosette they’re wearing or with their jackets? Where shall I put my cross? Why are these things not colour-coded?”
Please, give us a little more credit. It reminded me of those “consultants”, popular in the 80s and I think still around now.
They charge you money to hold colour swatches against your skin and tell you which colours suit you best. Never mind that people have been using their own mirrors for many years to tell them this at a fraction of the cost.
For those of us who tend to go down the Johnny Cash route of black for most occasions, sometimes ringing the changes with a cheeky splash of navy, it is all very upsetting.
The idea of someone imagining that wearing bright yellow will make them feel “sunny” rather than look like a lemon is enough to plunge my mood into blackness immediately.
I accept that politicians may need direction when it comes to style matters – some more than others – but I don’t accept the voters are quite so shallow as to be swayed by their choice of clothing.
We want our leaders to look smart and suitable for the job in hand, pretty much as we expect to see anyone in a responsible job but that’s as far as the interest goes.
Tragically, I suspect that much of this scrutiny would not have been quite so stringent if the leaders were all male.