Sometimes it is a disservice to describe George Orwell’s seminal novel Nineteen Eighty-Four as dystopian.
Some of the novel’s best commentary is on spectres that existed in 1940s society, and continue to exist now. First among these is Newspeak, which was really born in Orwell’s polemical exploration of how the English language is subtly used for political ends years before.
We were pleased when the BBC banned the use of the phrase electoral “reform” in its coverage of the referendum on whether to change the voting system. “Reform” is indeed too positive a word, as the corporation decided, to be used in supposedly neutral reporting by its journalists ahead of the referendum due on 5 May. The Yes to AV lobby were’nt happy but there is no surprise there. Today, the Staggers rightly points out that Cameron shouldn’t get away with NHS “Reform”. Hooray you shout. But haven’t we been there before. What about New Labour “reforms”? Otherwise know as anything designed to piss off your core voters so you could triangulate the odd Daily Mail reader. The BBC certainly has its work cut out.
