Tag Archives: jargon

Mary Reid

No more leverage or transformation

By Mary Reid | Mon 29th July 2013 - 3:00 pm

Some years ago my portfolio as a Cabinet member in Kingston Council included Communications. My first act was to set about enforcing the use of Plain English in all communications between the Council and residents. Although leaflets had been subjected to scrutiny, and many had won the Crystal mark, hundreds of standard letters were still written in ‘councilese’. So with the officers I set up a Better Letters campaign, which named and shamed the worst, and awarded plaudits to the most improved letters, as well as providing advice.

One of my favourite sentences appeared in the standard letter telling residents about …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 11 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • Ruth Bright
    Thanks Peter! Whatever happens in the General Election of 27/28 or 29 I am sure it won't be as traumatic as 2015. I remember my Mum and brother and I gather...
  • Peter Davies
    "And if you don’t think joining the SM and CU will produce growth you are undermining one of the strongest reasons for the UK becoming part of these instituti...
  • Peter Davies
    @Ruth. In the local elections we achieved a record number of seats. analysis showed that in areas where we do not have an MP, we lost both votes and councillors...
  • Steve Trevethan
    Might an associated root problem be a continuing/continuous lack of attention attracting/demanding “headline” policies which would benefit all of our societ...
  • Ruth Bright
    @Peter Davies, a real question, not a criticism, how do you know we are consolidating well in all 72 held seats? I can think of several PPCs who are working ...