The Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) is holding a public hearing today on the language used by politicians (details here) in response to the increasing number of complaints from members of the public regarding the 'impenetrable' jargon used by MPs. Some people claim that the politicians have been influenced by the business sector, which has plenty of jargon of its own, while those who are more cynical say it is a deliberate policy of obfuscation on the part of politicians.
In a discussion on this subject on Radio 4's Today programme this morning, Evan Davis interviewed Matthew Parris and Professor David Crystal, both of whom will be giving evidence at today's hearing (you can listen again for another week if you go to the Today home page for 9 July - it's here at the moment, but this page is always the latest edition, so will have been updated by tomorrow; scroll down to 08.42). As an example of impenetrable gobbledegook, they replayed a recent interview with government minister Liam Byrne, who said this:
"[...] and if power is pointing up for the decade ahead, power has to point out, which is why we need a change of gear and a power-shift."
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