In the pre-shitstorm days of 2013, the late Labour MP Glenda Jackson took to the House of Commons to deliver some really deep words for her mortal enemy. For her, the born-to-rulers on the benches opposite “knew the price of everything and the value of nothing". And while her concerns related to really quite serious things like NHS waiting lists and a food bank crisis, the Conservative Party of the United Kingdom have now also inadvertently torched the sneakerverse. In an Instagram video from Downing Street, the current prime minister Rishi Sunak was seen padding around his office in a pair of Adidas Sambas.
Unacceptable. In a bid to present himself as young and hip (and, quite possibly, as the future SVP of a tax-avoiding tech brand), Sunak took an eternally cool sneaker, and ruined it for everyone. It's not that guys of his age or ilk shouldn't be wearing Sambas. Everyone and anyone is welcome to cash in on a genuinely cool archival trainer. It's just how transparent and cynical it all seems.
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It's not Sunak's first rodeo, either. In 2021, he was pictured (again, in Downing Street) wearing a pair of Palm Angels slides. But back then, people were more willing to give Rishi Sunak the benefit of doubt. Fast forward a few years later, and all the polling indicates the Conservative party has rarely been so unpopular. Most things even loosely connected to it are tainted – sneakers included, even if the Samba is likely at the end of its hype lifespan anyway after a banging few years.
Twitter/X, true to form, has not been kind. “Horrendous" said one user. “A vain attempt to appeal to the mythical football casuals” said another. And the biggest knockout? “Thoughts and prayers with @dieworkwear when he sees this”.
Besides, do we even want our politicians to be cool? It's a very important job, after all. We don't want to know what their favourite record is, or if they smoked a spliff at uni, or if they're wearing the same trainers as us. We just want a doctor's appointment.
So to the next occupant of Downing Street: please, stay boring. Stay dull. Stay away from our sneakers.
