Sue Cameron’s FT Notebook is always laced with delicious vignettes. This morning, she reveals that the new cabinet manual has
been withdrawn temporarily because Sir Gus O’Donnell’s Latin grammar is like Pooh’s spelling: it wobbles. What are things coming to when even Sir Humphrey puts the definite article
before a Latin phrase?
Cameron also reviews yesterday’s shin-dig at the Institute for Government. She reports:
It’s well known that Number 10 is reorganising. The days of the soft-touch have gone. After 9 months of being powerless before various Whitehall firestorms, Downing Street has decided to manage government departments. Today’s Times reports (£) that a new team of 9 high-fliers has been appointed to ‘man-mark’ departments; these new muscle men will quell chaos as it erupts.‘Tom Kelly (Tony Blair’s former official spokesman) noted that the coalition was “beginning to learn the hard way that you have to get a grip from the centre”.’
That is all well and good, but, as James has noted, departmental special advisers have been grasping in the silent night for Downing Street’s line on certain issues. ‘Spending cuts’ is all that Number 10 has offered; so many suggest that it might re-evaluate its message, as well as its megaphone.
In an intriguing piece, Ben Brogan argues that this is all a matter of vocabulary. The word ‘cuts’ suits Labour, he says. Drop it and talk about ‘savings’ instead. The simple option is usually best; but, as Brogan concedes, there are signs that the word ‘cuts’ is now entrenched in public discourse. ‘The Big Society’ was a concerted effort to redefine the policy agenda, but it could not escape the charge of being a ‘cover for cuts’. Could ‘savings’ be any different? Perhaps, but there’s a good chance it might not. Speaking at yesterday’s event, Jonathan Powell warned that “speed kills” and urged the coalition to bed down, reorganise and take its time. Sir Humphrey, and perhaps Sir Gus also, might have agreed with Powell: sometimes inaction is a virtue.
Comments