international news _ Jonty Skrufff _ 8th July 2005

Executive Brits Go Commando

Fashion conscious British businessmen are ditching ties, suits and even underpants in the office, the Financial Times reported this week, in response to increasing trends towards informality.

"Where will it all end? With cropped shirts and bare tummy buttons?" the FT mused, "A survey for TENA, the world's top brand of incontinence products, found 5 per cent of British men already 'go commando', meaning they wear no underpants beneath their trousers. Mercifully for now the trousers themselves remain; but the office could look a very different place in 10 years' time," they predicted.

The knickerless trend could pose problems for Brit businessmen holidaying in Italy after authorities in Viareggio introduced new bylaws this week banning 'inappropriate dress' in the seaside town.

Local councillors reportedly introduced fines of up to 339 pounds for women wearing bikini tops and men going shirtless away from the beach after suffering for years from 'people who simply don't know how to behave' (The Standard)

"Many British people do not understand that displays of flesh are offensive," a council official explained.

Jonty Skrufff (Skrufff.com)