Amongst the weighty matters of political debate on Liberal Democrat blogs at the moment is the question of whether “sclerotic” is too recondite a word for Nick Clegg to have used. Stephen Tall posts a case for the defence, a view echoed by Brian Appleyard:
I would have thought that, since arteriosclerosis is so common, almost everybody would have come in contact with the word … Ignore the knockers, Nick, swallow a thesaurus that we may engorge on your recondite multiloquence.
P.S. A quiz question for Iain Dale: can you guess what word is not only used on the Conservative Party website but also been used in Parliament by Graham Brady, Douglas Carswell, Edward Gariner, Dominic Grieve, Stewart Jackson, Richard Spring, Andrew Lansley, David Ruffley, Nicholas Soames, Caroline Spelman, Andrew Tyrie, John Wilkinson, David Willetts and – in the spirit of cross-party harmony I should add – that favourite photogenic MP James Purnell? I think you can.
Follow @libdemvoice.org on Bluesky
Like us on Facebook
Subscribe to our feed
Sign-up for our daily email digest
The hidden history of Euston, a lost canal and Cumberland Market
Liverpool Labour's lack of ambition over the Commonwealth and Europe
First Clacton by-election opinion poll released
The funding fog surrounding Nigel Farage and Reform UK
Nigel Jones
Andy Daer
Mick Taylor
David Le Grice
5 Comments
Maybe it is coz I is thick 🙂
I don’t think James Purnell used those words Iain … the Tories mentioned may have done however.
He did Chris.
Sclerotic??.. Does it means thik skin??? Or thickning of the skin?.
Clegg is being far too clever for his own good. We need leadership messages which can appeal to the whole country, not just the medical profession and the literati. Concentrate on repeating the simple lines about the party’s most populist policies, Nick, and ditch the esoterics!