So Hillary Clinton has fallen foul of the PC lobby. And I don’t just mean that she’s been told to cool it on the negative campaigning. “She no longer buys from us,” an insider at Donna Karan told me sadly. “I think somewhere along the line, someone’s advised her that she can’t be seen wearing anything expensive. We’re a puritanical nation – what can I tell you?”

In fairness, we should remember that America has grounds for casting a beady eye over its politicians’ expenditure on items that might most conveniently be termed miscellaneous. One of its recent presidents did, after all, famously book in for what might well prove to be the world’s costliest haircut (in terms of reputation if nothing else) aboard the grounded Air Force One, when the engines were kept running for one hour while the Californian coiffeur Christophe went about his business. And, oh look, it was another Clinton. Much dispute ensued about how much the haircut cost, and how many other planes it delayed. An analysis of Federal Aviation Administration records by Newsday eventually revealed that, contrary to reports, only one (unscheduled) air taxi reported a delay. Of two minutes. That’s right. There was an actual investigation.

Truly, was there ever a more slippery professional tightrope than the one constructed from hair? Blair’s was too dyed, Harriet Harman’s is too flat compared with those glamorous, bouffanted Latino female politicos. Actually, I rather like Harman’s sensible, wash ’n’ go approach – it looks like a damn good haircut to me. But liking or not liking isn’t really the issue. We’re all entitled to our opinion and we could spend hours happily debating the point at which nicely turned-out tips over into obsessed Barbie Doll.

Suffice to say, clothes, grooming, the whole caboodle are, in every sense, highly political. We’re no more highly evolved on this front than the Americans. We cavil and jibe when our politicians go all designer on us or display a penchant for animal-print footwear from an upmarket shoe chain, yet we sneer when they try to do style on a tight budget.

I can’t get to the bottom of why we’re so conflicted about all this. We don’t seem to have problems with people driving cars with £50,000 of gadgets they don’t strictly need. A Lebanese acquaintance professed himself amazed that no one in London had ever tried to scratch his Porsche out of envy or spite. “The UK’s such a car culture,” he sighed appreciatively.

So why can’t we also be a grown-up culture that accepts that looking the part requires a bit of effort and doesn’t always come cheap? Surely it’s not all down to class, as usual, and some outdated notions about not being seen to try too hard. If so, maybe it’s time for a reality check. The truth is, for most of us, there’s nothing effortless about looking our best.

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