Ed Miliband has gone on holiday and allowed his facial follicles to go it alone, to embrace their natural need to sprout the kind of bristley hairs more akin to a sixth form common room. Free of the burden of a political run for power, they're popping out left right and centre and screaming 'Look at us! We live, and we prosper'.
Which might not seem like much of a story but, quite frankly, we didn't realise Ed had it in him. That said, as facial fuzz goes it's probably slightly lacking. Here are 11 other manly men that did the 'surprise' beard slightly better.
Pierce Brosnan
Like a man that's had his jaw replaced with rare earth magnets and then walked through an iron fillings factory.
Daniel Craig
The cold blue eyes of an international spy. The beard of hardened geography teacher on a bank holiday.
Jim Carrey
Beards: 1
Retina Scarring Scarves: 0
Michael Douglas
Words can't even.
Harrison Ford
The type of beard that says: "Not only will I beat you at poker, but I also know hypnosis."
Jon Hamm
The only thing manlier than Jon Hamm's beard would be a steak that's been injected with testosterone and given the ability to wield an axe.
Sting
A beard that could fight a bear and then sing it to sleep with songs about stalking it before P. Diddy came along and 'stole' it.
Elijah Wood
A beard that was probably applied using an aerosol can.
Guy Pearce
A beard of such mesmerising qualities that Guy Pearce doesn't look like 'fake Brad Pitt' anymore and has become his own bearded enigma with the fingernails of a man fighting off frostbite.
Roy Keane
The kind of beard that would jump off a man's face and tear your entire life to pieces.
Matthew Beard
A man that upsettingly doesn't have a beard but has been dubbed: 'The next Colin Firth' so probably won't ever grow one.
11 MEN THAT RANDOMLY SPOUTED BEARDS BETTER THAN ED MILIBAND
Yup, that's right, beards that look better than this brilliance.