Normal rules do not apply at airports, so good for Rudy Giuliani – shaving in a restaurant is totally fine

Things happen at airports that don’t happen anywhere else. Quit the policing, please

I am no great fan of Rudy Giuliani. Obviously I’ve never met him but, based on the company he keeps and the things he’s said, I’d guess he’s probably not a top bloke. Which makes it uncomfortable to have to defend him. But defend him I must.

So here’s the story. A couple of days ago, Giuliani, one-time mayor of New York and former personal lawyer to Donald Trump, was caught on camera at John F Kennedy International airport. He was eating at a restaurant (lobster bisque and chocolate brownies, apparently). And he was shaving. As in, he actually had an electric razor buzzing in his hand and was trimming bristles from his chin and cheeks.

It does sound kind of bad when you put it like that and indeed lots of people are pretty cross about it. Not least actor Michael Rapaport, who reposted the footage on social media, adding that Giuliani was a “slob” and a “nasty pig”.

Both of those things are probably true but not because he shaved at an airport restaurant. I’m sorry, no. Won’t have it. Airports are hard enough without people judging your weird behaviour. Things happen at airports that don’t happen anywhere else. Normal rules do not apply. You drink lager at 6am, eat cheeseburgers and Pret sandwiches at 7am, buy magazines like Mojo and The Oldie, wear a cushion round your neck and clean your teeth next to a stranger washing their armpits. You might even shave in a restaurant.

None of it is very nice but, hey, you do what you have to do. I mean, come on, there are vending machines in the loos selling chewable “Fuzzy Brush” toothbrushes. It’s bleak, yes. But you do it because you need to get home or away.

Christ, if Rudy Giuliani wants to have a quick shave over his lobster bisque, let the poor man get on with it. Who knows, maybe he was late leaving the house or the taxi went to the wrong terminal or he didn’t check in online or he left his boarding pass in WHSmith. Whatever. Rudy Giuliani was in a rush, he had a bowl of lobster bisque in front of him, and he needed to shave. So he acted. He did the right thing: he went into flight mode.

I’m telling you, this is a slippery slope. It starts with Rudy Giuliani being shamed for shaving in an airport restaurant and before you know it, you’re being asked whether fish, chips and mushy peas with a Stella is really the right choice ahead of a three hour flight to Greece. Or why you’re curled up under a seat using your wash bag as a pillow. Or why you’re buying CK One in Duty Free. No one knows the answers to these questions. So quit with the policing, please. Let it fly. And Rudy, my friend, you do you at the airport.