Wednesday 27 January 2010

Platitudes are the Palliatives of Parliament


plat⋅i⋅tude

[plat-i-tood, -tyood]  Show IPA
–noun
1.
a flat, dull, or trite remark, esp. one uttered as if it were fresh or profound.

the quality or state of being flat, dull, or trite: the platitude of most political oratory.

















NO DEAL
Watching the proceedings in Parliament today where Harriet Harman, the Deputy MP, stood in for the Prime Minister who remained in the north of Ireland to mediate, along with the Taoiseach of Ireland, to resolve the differences between Sinn Fein and the Unionists over the devolution of policing powers, it was hard to separate the fluster from the platitudes.


Platitudes have become stock-in-trade for Labour politicians on their way to oblivion. The PM has a platitudinous in-word, repeated ad nauseam, and it is:
vigilant. It came into being after terrorist attacks and now has become an essential part of the PM's vocabulary, used in all circumstances and occasions. Listen carefully and you will find more...and more.....and more.....


The vocabulary of Labour ministers is strewn with trite remarks along with constant reminders of the efforts they have made to make society in Britain more equitable, better educated and increasingly wealthier, by creating employment and eradicating child poverty. The problem with their assertions is that they are blatantly untrue.




READING  http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/case/_new/publications/NEP.asp

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