Cherie and her hair

Cherie Booth has given an interview on the World Service. She defends the £7,7oo hairdressers bill during the general election :

"Honestly - what a load of fuss about trivia! It's something about women, isn't it?
"Who noticed, or who made a big fuss, that the Tory Party paid £3,500 for the leader of the oppositions's make-up?
"But women and their hair, women and their appearance - it's part of the thing that we seem to suffer."

Im sorry but this is not a case of sexism pure and simple. Ok I do agree that women get judged more harshly on their appearances. To a certain extend men do as well , but not to the same level. What Cherie does not seem to grasp is why people criticise her. Its not about her looks for the most part.

She allows own goals for the media to attack her. She , and her husband, are seen as grabbing of freebies. For someone aligned to New labour and its spin, she seems to exercise incredibly poor judgement. An example of this is the signing of the Hutton report. How could she not see criticism of that coming a mile off. Cherie has said it was a private event - there is no such thing in politics and someone of her experience should know that.

To most of us £7,700 is not trivial. Its not trivial to Party activists (ok, the handful that still exist) who campaign.

Of course Howard and his make up was a ridiculous use of their Parties funds. But to say , look the Tories did it so its ok is not good enough. The Tories had sleaze , so its ok for Labour to. The Tories get money from big business so its ok for New labour.

The argument that others do something does not excuse or make good a behaviour. Its a further example of how out of touch New labour is with reality .

Both Cherie and Tony seem incapable of really listening to the criticisms of them and the Party. When will either of them hold their hands up and say I'm wrong, I should not have done that, the people (not the media) are not happy or are critical? Take some responsibilty !