David Parkin on the Movember threat to the Yorkshire economy

HAS there been any bigger threat to Yorkshire’s economic recovery than Movember?
 
In the last few weeks I have been confronted by members of the region’s respected corporate finance, property, legal and business sectors sporting hideous hair growth on their top lips.
 
Now, of course, this is all in the aid of a good cause. Movember is a brilliant marketing campaign encouraging men to get sponsorship to grow a moustache during November to raise money for prostate and testicular cancer charities.
 
But many don’t seem to feel the need to groom said moustaches – leaving them looking like a group of gay bikers heading for the Blue Oyster Bar.
 
And what worries me is that maybe their clients have resisted the need to have meetings with them over the last 30 days, waiting until these hirsute top lips have been shorn.
 
And that can’t be good for our economy. If Yorkshire is to continue to gather momentum into 2013 then it needs the corporate finance deals, the property deals and general business transactions, to happen without delay.
 
And in my opinion many of the shocking taches on show in business circles can only repel the need for clients to seek face-to-face interaction with their advisers.
 
Don’t get me wrong, I am not against the idea of the moustache.
 
Salvador Dali, Errol Flynn, Jimmy Edwards (younger readers – ask your grandad) – these men sported hair on their top lips that was crafted into a thing of beauty.
 
The most worrying aspect of Movember is that many of those taking part appear to have been inspired by some of history’s worst tyrants – Genghis Khan, Hitler, Stalin and Saddam Hussein.
 
On second thoughts, maybe the gay biker look isn’t that bad after all.
 
Which way to the Blue Oyster Bar ducky?