Another day and another election flyer slides slantendicularly through the letterbox begging for attention. This morning's was from Malcolm Chisholm, Scottish Labour's candidate in the Edinburgh Northern and Leith constituency.
Who can forget last year's Labour leaflet, on the front page of which a smiling cast of representative constituents spontaneously assembled about Mark Lazarowicz? Clearly not Labour publicity strategists, who have again waited hours for just the right sort of people to coalesce outside their man's Leith Walk office while the camera captures the moment. So what do the local faces chosen tell us about key voters in the run-up to 5 May?
Five of the seven folk photographed are female: one seems be a partially disabled pensioner in a red bunnet (thus subliminally ticking at least four boxes with one stone), two belong to an ethnic minority and aren't old enough to vote, one strongly resembles a dynamic young party activist spotted at a recent hustings, and one is in her professional prime. The latter – 'Anne Munro' – also figures prominently (and has nice things to say about 'Malcolm's' work ethic, principles and local commitment) on page 3.
Both men featured – one struggling to make himself seen from the back – are white and will not see 50 again in a hurry. Neither is wearing a suit or tie.
Pictorial priorities are partly echoed in campaign pledges on page 2: a freeze on Council Tax and help with household bills; reduction of waiting times to see cancer specialists; improved community care for older people; extra literacy specialists in schools.
But the question remains ... Where are all the men? Of 19 recognisable faces across 3 pages, 12 are women's and 5 are Malcolm Chisholm's.
This is not the Edinburgh Northern and Leith we remember. Where are all the smart 30-something marketing executives from Leith wearing ridiculous glasses? Where are the jobless young school-leavers in hoodies? How come there are no dynamic Polish builders pictured, or tatooed blokes falling out of bars in Greenside or into each other's arms on Broughton Street? What happened to beardies bicycling furiously along pavements, to doting fathers running rings with footballs round kids in parks, to guerilla gardeners and selfless biomass opponents?
In short, where is that wide diversity of males who used to constitute about half the human race? When and why did Labour Party strategists decide they should become invisible?