Why beautiful people will be handsomely rewarded
Given the speed with which American fashions travel, we should all soon be receiving invitations to plastic surgery "coming out" parties.
Ronnie Davis, managing director of Great Performances, a Manhattan-based party planning company, told The New York Times last week that he had organised post-operative plastic surgery parties in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and an undisclosed location in Michigan.
The newspaper reported that in Long Island 300 people turned up to watch 10 women, aged from 16 to 60-plus, walk down a catwalk, showing off their new faces and body parts. "We used to sneak people in the back door with fake names," James Wells, president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, said. Now, "they want to announce it to their friends".
Those of us who have never consulted a plastic surgeon, much less attended a coming out party, are probably doing ourselves a disservice. Academic studies have established that good looks are the key to success.
Iain Duncan Smith, the Conservative party leader, is desperately clinging to his job. One of his defects, according to commentators, is that he is bald. It is now widely held that only someone with a full head of hair can become US president or British prime minister, which is possibly why, when these jobs fall vacant, my name is never mentioned.
France, as ever, is different. Jacques Chirac is thin on top, as was Fran
