Ba(nne)d words: the GOV.UK style guide

I love a good style guide. And I applaud anyone encouraging the use of clear English. But the GOV.UK style guide, produced by the United Kingdom’s Government Digital Service (GDS) for the GOV.UK website (the new portal bringing together all, or most, of the UK’s government websites), is really bugging me. More specifically, the part on plain …

Work experience schemes. Not just for big business

I’m glad the UK government and big businesses have got the work experience issue sorted out. (Very briefly: businesses can offer unemployed young people unpaid work experience, during which the youngsters continue to receive their unemployment benefits. After protests claiming that the scheme amounted to unpaid forced labour, and criticism of the government’s threat of …

Fuzzy words

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if local and central governments were truly transparent in their use of language? Italy’s Emilia Romagna Region has just announced an “adeguamento” (correction, adjustment) of passenger rail fares. The headline on their website says: Treni, dal primo agosto adeguamento dei prezzi. L’aumento [increase] interessa il trasporto ferroviario passeggeri della regione. So, is it …

Blowing the nation’s trumpet: languages and diplomacy (2)

Blowing the nation’s trumpet is all very well, but sometimes the message sent out to foreign audiences is a bit too rosy. When the Labour Government came to power in 1997, I was working in the Social Affairs section of the British Embassy in Rome. One of our jobs was to send out press releases …

Blowing the nation’s trumpet: languages and public diplomacy (1)

I recently spent 2 days interpreting in Birmingham for an Italian delegation from Italia Lavoro and Regione Marche. They were here to find out more about the work being done by Sue Veszpremi’s Employer Engagement team at Jobcentre Plus to help the long-term unemployed back into employment. Wonderful work, in my opinion – Mr. Osborne, please don’t …