4 hours ago
4
We need to talk about boob hypnosis. Did you know that hypnosis can help you make healthier dietary choices, and with the right balance of protein, fibre and positive visualisation, you can become considerably more stacked? Just kidding – I don’t think this actually works and I don’t care what cup size you are.
I refer, of course, to the past that haunts Green party leader Zack Polanski. As his star has risen, so have the number of people ready to share their opinion on why they would never vote for him. I’ve met Greens who deplore his focus on social justice, considering it fatally undermining of the real cause, which is environmentalism. I don’t agree with that, but I’ll definitely take it, the language of priorities being an intra-left fight that is, ahem, evergreen. I’ve met people who will never vote for him because of his previous involvement with fringe theatre, and I ordinarily would agree with that, except in extreme times, you need to stay open to new allies. I would still draw the line at mime.
But then there are the people who would never vote Green because of that time in 2013, and I’m going to run through the details in full, because a lot of these Green refuseniks are hazy on them; they just know that it happened, and it gives them the ick. At that time Polanski was a hypnotherapist, and a Sun journalist approached him wanting to know if she could “boost cup with mind”. A pause here to consider what an incredibly lucky strike this was for the Sun. They were looking for a fun way to lampoon woo-woo and talk about tits at the same time, and what they got was both those things plus an achilles heel for the radical left that all the positive thinking in the world won’t make go away.
As a twist of fate, then, it is staggering, but as an indication of Polanski’s character, it is a frippery. He wasn’t touting his services as a boob-magician. He was just a hypnotherapist being polite to a client with very strong motivation in that area. I guess the ideal hypnotherapist-later-progressive-politician response would have been: “No, the power of the mind won’t help you here, and anyway, you’re fine as you are and your insecurity is just internalised patriarchal oppression.” But we are where we are, and this story is a piece of nothing.
Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist
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