Adrian Mole wrote in his diaries "It rained solidly all afternoon. How can it rain "solidly"? What a strange mistress is the English language." What "he" was referring to at that time was the construction of a sentence where the meaning, as a whole, is totally different to the individual components, the juxtaposition between the adjective 'solid' and the noun 'rain'. Obviously you can't have solid rain, but we do refer to it raining solidly.
I'm finding more and more that I'm listening to the language that politicians (of all parties) use. Sometimes, what is more telling is the language that they don't use, and choose to substitute in its place. You really do have to read between the lines. Sometimes it's quite subtle, other times - as recently - less so.
The classic example is when a politician talks of making "difficult decisions". What this translates to is something that the Government wants to do, which it recognises is universally unpopular - despised even - but remains determined to do anyway. This is usually something driven by ideology, vested interests of lobbyists, or the ego of the person who thought of the idea.
When a political leader is exhibiting "strong leadership" - that really means that the party leader is determined to press ahead with something that even his own party hates.
"We are where we are" is a tacit admission that the speaker (or their party/Goverment) has dropped an almighty bollock in the past, but isn't willing to allow the discussion to focus on whose fault it is, i.e. theirs. It reminds me of the old joke about a person asking directions in Ireland. "You want to go to Dublin? Ah, I wouldn't start from here if I were you."
In the 90s, a Tory minister who resigned from his job saying "I want to spend more time with my family." really meant "I've been caught shagging my secretary but the News of the World hasn't published the story yet."
However, the current Government are masters of scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to euphemisms to mask their naked ideology, devoid of any sustainable logic whatsoever.
What the listener or viewer really needs to keep an ear out for at the moment, are the key phrases of the moment: "reform" and "partnering". The Home Sectretary (yes, the one with a criminal conviction for Contempt of Court) and the Policing Minister are particulary fond of them. The Health Secretary is a particular fan of "reform".
The Tories might well use other terms - but basically it all boils down to one thing. It's the Tory version of the "love that dare not speak its name":-
Privatisation.
It's what they're doing to the police service. It's what they've already done to the NHS. Goodness only knows what they'll think of next for "reform". What I do know, is that it won't be "transparency of MPs expenses and tax affairs". There's also about as much chance of "reform" of MPs pensions, as there is of Nick Clegg growing a spine.
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