The craze for political language

Well, at least Ed’s won something. The Oxford English Dictionary has chosen Ed Miliband’s ‘squeezed middle’ as the word of the year. It beat off competition from the hopeful ‘Arab Spring’, the dully functional ‘phonehacking’ and the abominable ‘Hacktivism’. It is a remarkably political list, no doubt reflecting the interesting times in which we live.

Indeed, the fashion for political language is strong at present: ‘big society’ took the same award last year. What next? Even now, a conscientious special advisor is scribbling away in the bowels of Whitehall, unwittingly close to lexicographical immortality.

In related news, libraries are a growing issue at Westminster. The Bookseller reports that the Culture, Media and Sport committee, made famous by the phonehacking saga, is to investigate library closures. The paper reports:

‘The committee is inviting written submissions and requesting views on what constitutes a comprehensive and efficient library service for the 21st century, the extent to which planned library closures are compatible with the Public Libraries & Museums Act 1964, the impact library closures have on local communities and the effectiveness of the secretary of state’s powers of intervention under the 1964 Act.