Amid the grimness that dominates today's foreign news pages, the Daily Express has found a nice parting with a chuckler about official hair style policy in North Korea.
The socialist state has launched an offensive against bad hair cuts, suggesting men visit the barber once a fortnight. Unfortunately, the paper's website does not carry its mock-up of how David Beckham would look sporting the four authorised styles: the flat-top crew cut, middle hairstyle, low hairstyle and high hairstyle.
The Scotsman - registration required - points out the television and radio campaign comes with the snippy title of Let Us Trim Our Hair In Accordance With Socialist Lifestyle.
The BBC shows a number of screen grabs from state television revealing what is permitted and what isn't. It also tells of a TV series which has named and shamed some of the country's scruffiest men.
But getting his hair right is important to the 21st century male - just look at the extraordinary lengths defeated US vice-presidential candidate John Edwards goes to on this Slate magazine video clip.
Tony Blair was forced to deny he was dyeing his hair blond and Germany's chancellor, Gerhard Schröder successfully sued a news agency that claimed he dyed his.
It's not clear what the North Korean authorities would make of B D Tyagi, of Bhopal, India, who holds the Guinness world record for the longest ear hair. Likewise they've yet to comment on the hair of the founding father of socialism, Karl Marx, who hardly came from the school of short back and sides, as this photo shows.
James Sturcke
