Stop the stinks

Over the past decade or so, I have become increasingly aware of what are now, apparently, referred to as “personal fragrances”.

I used inverted commas for that expression simply because it is akin to describing a hurricane as a mild wind event.

The trouble is that, nowadays, men are as guilty as women, if not, in fact, more so, of gassing everyone in their immediate neighbourhood with their expensive stench.

Once upon a time, men wore cologne and ladies perfume. Now, it seems that men wear lavatory cleaner with pride.

I had thought of creating such a pong using a mixture of bleaches from the smallest room in the house and calling it “Stynx”, or even “Death by Deodorant”, but I don’t know how well it would sell.

No doubt other readers will have names of their own in the campaign to Stop the Stinks and bring back the great smell of sweat.

Andrew HN Gray

Edinburgh