THEY are more bacteria-infested than a dog’s coat. They only belong on woodsman and Glastonbury hipsters. They convey a sense of laziness you don’t get with other men. Damningly, they are hiding something within their dark, bushy confines — germs, dirt, scandal, corruption, perhaps an extra-marital affair?

A simple Google search will quickly highlight the prejudice, fake news and the misunderstandings associated with man’s most trusted companion and tool — the beard.

But there is a group that is standing up to this soft form of discrimination, and in a similar vein to the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra), the Beard Liberation Front (BLF) seeks to preserve, help and fight on behalf of the simple beard-wearer.

The founder and organiser of the group, trade union official Keith Flett, has been heading the front since its establishment in 1995, at the dawn of New Labour and its more corporate, clean shaven brand of politics.