News
Plain English campaign news articles
Facebook won’t 'like' this…
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- Created on Monday, 01 December 2014 15:32
Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites will soon have to tell their users exactly how their photos and information are being used.
A Commons Service and Technology Select Committee report condemns the current terms and conditions as horribly long and complex, and akin to ‘engaging with Shakespeare’ (though much less fun).
The pensions problem deepens
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- Created on Friday, 14 November 2014 10:51
The pensions problem, and it’s a serious problem, hasn’t improved since George Osborne recently announced his ‘pensions revolution’.
Packs sent out to pension customers have simply failed to shed much light on a complex issue. Worse still, not all insurers even mention the new rules, and run the risk of leaving their customers in dire trouble.
More mis-sold policies…
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- Created on Friday, 14 November 2014 10:45
Not so long ago, we covered the mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) fiasco – huge numbers of people saddled with pointless policies which they ended up being compensated for.
These were policies that were created for no reason other than to make money. And it seems that the lessons of the PPI disaster have quickly been forgotten if ‘bankruptcy indemnity policies’ are anything to go by.
Waffle extractor
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- Created on Monday, 10 November 2014 09:20
It’s a shame that such a thing is needed, but fair play to Houston PR for their online tool polifiller.com.
The website, which lists a ‘cliché of the day’ (‘Tightening their belts’ when I looked) strips all nonsense and surplus waffle from politicians’ comments.
Plain English awards
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- Created on Thursday, 06 November 2014 09:14
It's awards time again at Plain English Campaign, which means another Foot in Mouth winner has been announced.
Follow this link to see all the awards.
Our 2014 winner is more than worthy of the best past winners and was the overwhelming choice.
Image copyright: Featureflash
The lazy uncertainty of the long-winded
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- Created on Friday, 31 October 2014 11:33
We at Plain English Campaign know how empty and pointlessly complex business jargon is. Though it’s always good to have a renowned cognitive scientist behind us.
Steven Pinker, writer of many critically acclaimed books on the brain, language and behaviour, recently published a language style guide, The Sense of Style. In it, he heavily criticises office gobbledygook.
Proposed pension changes:- Tax-free or not tax-free – that is the question…
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- Created on Friday, 24 October 2014 13:34
You can tell it’s nearing election time – political parties start to make all kinds of impressive-sounding promises that might not be quite what they seem.
One promise is that from next year people over the age of 55 can use their pension pot like a bank account. They will, whenever they like, be able to withdraw lump sums from their pension funds. Of these withdrawals, 25% will be tax-free but the rest will be taxed at the normal tax rate. So, if you’re over 55 and you want to withdraw money from your pension, you won’t have to pay tax if the amount you withdraw, plus your income, equals no more than £10,000. However, if your income and withdrawal amounts combined are over the £10,000 mark, you should expect to pay tax on any money you earn or withdraw over that amount.
Read more: Proposed pension changes:- Tax-free or not tax-free – that is the question…
Last call for awards entries
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- Created on Thursday, 23 October 2014 10:46
If you are planning on submitting a nomination for our plain English awards for 2014, the closing date is 31 October 2014. You can see more details about submitting an award on the entry details page of this site.
