Leading article: Blue language
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.What do "delivery", "safeguarding", "integrated working", "targeted services" and "ECM" have in common – aside from their leaden effect on the ear? They are among the expressions that the Education Secretary wants to ban from his department. And an excellent ambition it is, too. If Michael Gove has a bit of a blind spot where numbers are concerned – his attempts to slash the school buildings programme showed an imperfect command of the arithmetic – he seems admirably at home with words.
But there are two questions, as we see it, to be asked. First, how will he communicate with an education establishment that talks to itself almost exclusively in such jargon? Can his department, in its cash-strapped state, run to remedial English classes? And second: will the translation be any better? The early evidence is not promising. For "targeted" read "fairer" services. For "ECM", (that's Every Child Matters to the rest of us), read "help children to achieve more". For "safeguarding" read "child protection". The risk is that, in replacing terms that, in Mr Gove's view, "reek too strongly of Labour", the new lexicon is tinged in blue. What's wrong with plain English – the sort that you don't have to be either a civil servant or a politician to understand?
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
0Comments