london never mind the attractive hooded sweatshirts on sale around the world as the shapeless uniform of urban noughties youth the message from the political catwalks of london straight from the mouths of grizzled political bears such as threeterm pm tony blair and deputy prime minister john prescott wear a hoodie at your peril its antisocial and you might find yourself breaking the lawthe extraordinary fashion directive which some may liken to indias saffron strand diktat some years ago against pubescent girls wearing tight jeans came just hours after britains largest shopping centre banned hoodiesthe ban is the first time a garment has officially gone on a shopping centres antisocial list it is thought to paint the hoodie in new colours very different from the roseate view of its wearersblair backed the ban on thursday hoodies and baseball caps were an ugly symbol of british abdication of respect for authority he suggested the hoodie could be intimidating he saidblairs fiat against the hoodie was in tune with his deputy pms publiclyexpressed aversion to all the garment had come to symbolise at british shopping centres and urban melting potscommentators said the controversy over the iraq war may be dying but it had given way to the equally controversial politics of the battle against the hoodiefor the hoodie has become the political punching bag for a generation of british politicians yearning to return the anglosaxon west to an oldstyle sense of courtesy and traditional moresblair who launched on thursday a massive government campaign to bring respect back to the heart of british life said respect towards other people is a modern yearning as much as a traditional one he said yobbish behaviour will not be tolerated laying this out as a central aim of labours third historic term in officebut if hoodie now equals yob many believe the political battle against the garment may be excessive and misplaced considering its rather ordinary even downbeat history the hoodie is a loving linguistic diminutive for a shapelesslooking garment that is really only a sweatshirt with a hoodaccording to aficionados some hoodies rejoice in having a large pocket across the front many others joyfully bear a logosays one internet encyclopaedia some have strings that can be pulled to tighten the hoodoften they are adorned with designer logos or messages generally in a language gleefully foreign to the wearers country of birth if anything admit grimacing fashionistas the foreign languagehoodie spells globalisation often of the sort people do not fully understand such as outsourcingthe hoodie is thought to have risen to the top of the grunge style stakes after black british youths adopted it as a uniform of peaceable protest against authority the hoodies charm was its ability to present its wearer as cool while keeping them warm