News
Plain English campaign news articles
Boris talks sense shock?
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- Created on Thursday, 09 October 2014 10:54
In an unlikely move, Boris Johnson has admitted that he and Westminster in general are full of empty waffle and jargon. To listen to him speak uncharacteristically clearly on the subject, watch this interview on Newsnight with Evan Davis on Newsnight.
How the campaign began
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- Created on Thursday, 02 October 2014 15:50
In 1971 a small group of activists including Chrissie Maher created the UK’s first ‘community’ newspaper called the ‘Tuebrook Bugle’. This was a newspaper that was written and owned by the people of the Tuebrook neighbourhood in the city of Liverpool. Having their own newspaper meant that they could write articles demanding that organisations start using plain English. And through the newspaper, they were able to pass on valuable information, written in easily understood language, to the rest of the people in their neighbourhood. The success of this project led to the creation of over 50 other community newspapers which fulfilled a similar role.
Follow this link to see rare archive footage from the early days of the Tuebrook Bugle (Chrissie interviewed at home by Arthur Dooley, 1971).
Jobs jargon buster
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- Created on Thursday, 02 October 2014 12:12
Plain English Campaign and City & Guilds have teamed up in a fight against ‘qualification confusion’.
According to a City & Guilds survey, almost half of London bosses ignore CVs that contain jargon or unfamiliar qualifications.
So, City & Guilds have responded by producing a new vocational curriculum and qualification, TechBac®, aimed at 14- to 19-year-olds. We’ve also worked with City & Guilds in launching a ‘jargon buster’ to help employers with educational jargon and acronyms.
Crapple
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- Created on Thursday, 02 October 2014 12:01
Apple have just launched their ‘Apple Watch’ to much worldwide interest, and it’s a typically sleek product from a great, innovative company. Though Apple’s Senior Vice President of Design, Jony Ive, has been a little too creative when describing their new device.
More government gobbledygook
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- Created on Thursday, 02 October 2014 11:49
There have recently been plenty of calls for government and council documents to be rewritten in plain English – and talks over the Scottish Government’s Community Empowerment Bill have led to yet another.
The discussions have been spoiled for anyone other than those at the very top – it’s hard to imagine anyone else having a clue what ‘top-down capacity building’, ‘community anchor organisations’ or ‘third sector interfaces’ are.
