Here's one story about cuts we could all do without. Controversy rages over the decision to award the MBE to the prime minister's crimper, Lino Carbosiero. The PM's barber charges £90 a cut for servicing the premier, who is notoriously keen to conceal his follicle challenges with a smart parting. As a follow-up, fellow Cabinet members boasted how inexpensive their own snips were by comparison. Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg is trimmed at £20 a pop in Sheffield while Commons leader and former health secretary Andrew Lansley boasted a closer shave at £15 a visit to his local Cambridge scissor-wielders. Predictably, local government secretary Eric Pickles was keen to extol the fact he shaves his own hair at home, without the need to pay barbers. Harrow LBC leader and hair salon proprietress, Cllr Susan Hall, stepped into the act, declaring that celebrity hairdressers can do more than shape an electorally successfully look. The immaculately coiffeured Cllr Hall, who claims to hold the keys to the salon and the top office at the town hall, said the salon was an unrivalled place to hear what residents think. ‘You don't get hot air under the hair dryers when it comes to their opinions,' she said. It's all enough to make you want to curl up and dye.