Tattoo

Britain is suffering from a tattoo epidemic

Long before he entered Downing Street, James Callaghan was in the Navy. Like many sailors, he had his arms tattooed. Decades later he regretted the decision, becoming so ashamed of his appearance that he refused to wear short-sleeved shirts. It’s a lesson from which much of modern Britain could learn. I can’t decide which is more unpleasant: a tattoo on an attractive person or one on a minger Sometimes I think I’m the last person left in the world without any tattoos. Then I remember Cristiano Ronaldo, who doesn’t have any because he regularly donates blood. You have to wait a certain amount of time before donating (in the UK it’s four months). This would exclude the huge numbers of people who seem to be on a never-ending programme of self-coverage.

Nurses shouldn’t have tattoos

Of all the aspects of dating that make me grateful I came off the market when I did – ghosting, choking, sober socialising, facial hair like Brahms’s beard – it’s the spread of large-scale visible tattoos that makes me feel like I got the last chopper out of ’Nam. Neck tattoos and sleeves were once either indicators of prison gang allegiances or the preserve of thrash metal bands and their fans. Although perhaps the most heavily inked man in rock is Travis Barker, drummer of pop-punk crossover tarts Blink-182. His whole head is tattooed, as is Kerry King’s of Slayer, who also has ‘God Hates Us All’ down his left arm. Among Phil Anselmo of Pantera’s extensive body art is a portrait of himself as a demon with his now ex-wife riding an extending tongue.