Congratulations to the Local Government Association, which has circulated to its member authorities a list of 100 words and phrases to be avoided in the interests of effective communication with the public.
The list contains a gratifying number of my own pet hates, such as “core value”, “empowerment”, “holistic”, “stakeholder”, “sustainable”, “transparency” and “vision”.
It does not, however, include my particular bête noire, the ludicrous “roll out”. I once heard it announced in Parliament that a certain police force had “rolled out” twenty new community support officers, which must have been a very painful experience for them.
It may be my imagination, but this vile bureaucrat-speak seems to have proliferated substantially during the lifetime of this Government. It possesses, after all, the quintessentially New Labour double virtue of sounding cool and modern, whilst conveying little or no meaning at all.
So Labour employ it liberally, to the extent of placing the following horrors on the lips of Her Majesty when she delivered the Gracious Speech last December:
“My Government will bring forward legislation to promote local economic development and to create greater opportunities for community and individual involvement in local decision-making…
“My Government will also bring forward a Bill to deliver a more effective, transparent and responsive justice system for victims, witnesses and the wider public…
“My Government will bring forward a Bill to promote equality, fight discrimination and introduce transparency in the workplace to help address the difference in pay between men and women…
“The Bill would create a duty to take account of the new National Health Service Constitution that will set out the core principles of the Service and the rights and responsibilities of patients and staff…
“My Government is committed to the Northern Ireland political process and will bring forward further measures for sustainable, devolved government…
“My Government will work for a coordinated international response to the global downturn, including by hosting the next G20 Summit on financial markets and the world economy in the United Kingdom in April next year and reforming financial institutions.”
I am certain that that is not the sort of language our down-to-earth Queen would ever dream of using when conversing in private with Prince Philip.
Sadly, however, I am equally sure that there is a sharp-suited speechwriter deep in the bowels of No 10 who sees nothing at all wrong with it.
Indeed, he probably regards its use as evidence of blue sky thinking and helicopter vision.
What about “repurpose”? I know it is in OED … but so are “sustainable” and “stakeholder”.