A <pedant> writes </pedant>

Yesterday I went out of the flat as a bloke with a ponytail.

As an inveterate smiler at strange women, I received the usual small percentage of return smiles, which was as usual, very pleasant. In the course of my wanderings, I found a barber willing to give me a short back and sides, in honour of the job interview I just cocked up. And now, I find myself sitting in the World's End, in Camden, dressed like a twat in a shirt and tie, with short hair, wondering why no-one smiles back at me any more.

My girlfriend, who had in the past always professed to prefer a short-haired clean-cut kinda guy sounded disappointed when I told her of my shearing, and more immediately, I can not only not get a return smile, but even the scowls are no longer forthcoming. It's all my own fault, I know, and anyway, I shouldn't be smiling at strange women, given that I am not single.

However, the truth is plain:

Straight-looking white men in shirts and ties with short haircuts, are in fact invisible.

Invisibility confers a dangerous sort of power.

It is my humble suggestion, that this may go a long way to explaining the sorry state of the world we live in.

(This seems ok - Bad Editor)