HAVING flirted with the notion of having my own subtle tattoo throughout my youth and even into adulthood, I never quite summed up the courage – or indeed the interest – to carry it through.

But I am fascinated by the psychology, the reasoning and the implications that accompany the decision to add an inked statement to your body.

I look at men and women with complex Mandarin sentence structures tattooed on their arms and wonder whether they’re aware they’re possibly advertising two portions of sweet-and-sour chicken balls.

I see gloriously-illustrated men and women and wonder just how all that’s going to look in their care home 30 or 40 years on.

And I wonder how many deluded individuals have, like Johnny Depp, sworn their undying love to a partner with their name tattooed on their bodies only to find that the forever in ‘Winona Forever’ lasted just three years.

Fair play to the West Moors studio offering the unemployed the chance to improve their job prospects by helping them get their tattoos removed.

If it helps just one individual stymied by their previous bad decisions, it will be worth it.

Sadly, it probably won’t discourage the many impressionable youngsters who think that making a statement on their bodies might always be appreciated or understood by those seeking to employ them.