All tied up: time to loosen the shackles? Photograph: Sarah Lee/Guardian
Ties have recently become a subject for debate in Britain after some of the most famous proponents - including newsreader Jon Snow - began publicly wondering whether they had a future.
But it seems that chief among the ties tormentors could be a small Silicon Valley firm you may have heard of: witness this odd piece of communication from Google spotted by our regular columnist Nick Carr.
It comes from Peter Fleischer, Google's top privacy boss, who wrote a letter to the Financial Times on the subject.
It constricts circulation to the brain. And it acts as decorative camouflage for the business suit, designed to shield the middle-aged male physique, with its shrinking shoulders and protruding paunch, from feeling sufficiently self-conscious to hit the gym.
Men should lose their "business attire" and wear T-shirts to work. Wouldn't you like to know whether your business partners are fit? Why should you trust a man in business if he abuses his own body? And heaven knows what waves of creativity might be unleashed, when men are freed from conformist garb.
If your fashion editor can hardly imagine a better garment for men to exhibit their personality, power and masculinity than wearing ties, well . . . I work at Google. Our unofficial motto is, "Be serious without a suit."
So not only is Google taking on the fight against ties - but it also seems to be advocating a policy of judging books by their cover. Forget whether Google is spying on you, those of us who carry a little paunch should be running scared of the 'plex.
