Plain English Campaign

It's summer here in the UK, just in case you were wondering! I wanted to spread a little sunshine for those of you looking forward to the school holidays because there's still plenty to smile about, despite the never-ending rain and constant streams of jargon and gobbledygook.

First I hear on a radio programme about an NHS Trust banning the use of endearments and nicknames with elderly patients as it could be demeaning. It reminds me of that 'darling' and sadly now deceased, English comedian, Dick Emery and his comedy sketch where he objects to being called 'Madam' instead of 'Miss'. I'm sure that as an opinionated grandmother in her mid-seventies, I have been called a few things that I might object to, but for many of us older folk, we are just pleased when someone takes time to call us at all.

Today's papers tell us how one in four hospitals are breaking the law with poor care for elderly patients - an NHS Trust is being fined £35,000 for breaching the privacy of patients' details - a top doctor claims 130,000 elderly NHS patients are being killed as part of a Liverpool Care Pathway, a method of looking after terminally ill patients that is used in hospitals across the country. And the so-called experts are worried about respecting my dignity by banning the use of words like 'sweetie', 'dear' or 'darling'.

Plain English Campaign wants to lift the lid on food labelling that can be dangerously confusing. The Campaign feels that regulatory bodies and manufacturers in the UK have lost the plot when it comes to food labelling. Tiny text with figures and words from a science laboratory can drive customers away from the supermarket shelves, instead of increasing sales and helping the customer.

A typical pot of cottage cheese can bombard shoppers with information that can be unclear and unhelpful in making healthy choices. Foodstuff measurements alone come in all forms and combinations - percentages, fractions, kcal, kJ, and g, and don’t forget your GDA and RDA.

As well as the numbers and calculations, the shopper has to deal with scientific terms and industry abbreviations that could add to your weight, as well as your frustration.

An action team set up by Plain English Campaign is keeping watch over the poor communications in food labelling this year. The nuttiest find so far is on a chocolate selection card.

Chocolate-lovers can read no fewer than eight mentions about the nut content in the chocolate menu selection alone. Further details on the back of the Cadbury Milk Tray box go on to give the full ingredients and nutritional values, once more including the nuts.

Warnings are essential for allergy sufferers. But with three of the ten chocolates listed already containing the word ‘nut’ in their menu names, Plain English Campaign is puzzled by this need for such frequent repetition.