Afrodisiac
Diane Abbott likened her rejection of earlier pro-terror sympathies to losing her afro hairstyle. To African-Americans in the 1960s, the afro was a rejection of black attempts to ape white styles. Yet 100 years earlier it was seen as an epitome of white beauty. In 1864, a P. T. Barnum show in New York, featured a ‘Circassian beauty’, said to be from the Northern Caucasus. A German physiologist had cited these Black Sea people as the ‘purest example’ of the white race. The woman had a huge ball of moss-like hair. Some say the style came from Circassian women captured as sex slaves for Turkish harems — their hair was shampooed in beer to appear African.
Lucky dip
The Conservative poll lead fell to just 5 per cent. Toris can take heart from ICM polls leading up to Tony Blair’s 1997 landslide:
| Lab % | |
| 2 March | 48 |
| 31 March | 46 |
| 7 April | 46 |
| 14 April | 45 |
| 21 April | 42 |
| 30 April | 43 |
| Result (1 May) | 44.4 |
Source: ICM/Guardian
| Con % | |
| 2 March | 30 |
| 31 March | 32 |
| 7 April | 34 |
| 14 April | 31 |
| 21 April | 37 |
| 30 April | 33 |
| Result (1 May) | 31. |
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