The hullabaloo over Jeremy Paxman's hirsute chin has rumbled on into a second day, with the most famous beard in newspapers now offering advice to the most famous beard in television. Not missing a beat, Evgeny "electric trimmer" Lebedev has penned a column in his own London Evening Standard proffering advice to Newsnight's hairy anchor. "Whatever one's views on the specifics (and we'll discuss those later), Jeremy Paxman got one thing right. A beard, like a great work of art or literature, must meet its public fully formed," writes Lebedev Jnr. The young proprietor imparts that his own beardy odyssey began with a little stubble when he was 25. But, with the aid of "an electric trimmer and occasionally a small brush", he can easily go for a week to 10 days "without lavishing any attention upon my growth". Banish the thought. Lebedev's advice for Paxo? "Now that it is established, and for the most part liked, he must carry his beard through to the end. A beard must never be a slave to the fickle vagaries of fashion. Those who wear them fleetingly never command respect. Even for such luminaries as David Beckham or Brad Pitt, their flirtations with facial hair will be remembered as distinct troughs in their varying sartorial tides. A beard is nothing less than the rock on which the wave of fashion breaks." Perhaps, but the follicle focus has left clean-shaven Monkey feeling a little lost at sea.
