Follow the bear[d]

According to The Times the beard is back - no kidding.

No longer is the beard verboten, an object of feminine disgust, masculine ridicule and universal suspicion.

How did its remarkable social rehabilitation occur? It is a conundrum so perplexing that tackling it demands you have a beard of your own, for contemplative stroking.

"I think they’re popular because they are a counter-strike against that whole metrosexual feminisation of guys." Russell Manley, East London hairdresser.