Ministry of Silly Walks

Several years ago some research came out that found that British people walked badly. It's true. When you're next out on the street, watch and you'll see all sorts. And yet the way we walk says a lot about our self-image and our confidence.

You'll feel more confident if you walk upright and with the sort of composure that says you're calmly in control and at ease with the world. Alas, too many people walk badly. If you hobble along like a hod carrier with haemorrhoids, then that's how you'll be seen and perceived by other people. You won't stand a chance of them thinking of you as either a CEO type or a dazzling entrepreneur who they'd look up to or even as a sensual goddess or a handsome hunk who they'd desire.

The famous Monty Python sketch about the Ministry of Silly Walks is sometimes not actually that far from the everyday truth. Ministry of Silly Walks clip

It's such a shame to see an attractively dressed woman walking badly down a street or anywhere, for that matter, with tightly folded arms and round, stooped shoulders as if she's in an invisible straight jacket that's weighed down from the front. It kills the outfit. It kills the image. It's very unsexy and unappealing.

And men don't help themselves either, doing a similar sort of round-shouldered shuffle, with the added refinement of some gentle and sometimes rhythmic jaw jutting to half-heartedly assert some sort of male machismo. Moon walking and goose-stepping are more likely to get you respect, if not an invitation to work for the Ministry of Silly Walks.