The Orwells, No.4
This (slightly belated) Orwell goes to Home Secretary Charles Clarke for his cunning deployment of cultural relativism as an argument in favour of deporting people to governments known to use torture. He said that criticism of his policy was tantamount to “latter-day imperialism” in an interview with the Financial Times, which gets him an Orwell nomination. TYR’s Orwell Awards, to be held at the end of this year, aim to reward the political abuse of the English language. We welcome nominations from the public, which can go either in the comments or to a.harrowell AT gmail.com.
This week’s nomination is indebted to Tom Griffin of The Green Ribbon.
There is also an honourable mention to the Local Government Association, for whoever it was told the press that local authorities were concerned that they were being “forced” to grant extended drinking hours because of “a lack of objections from the public and police”. Errr….look, the idea is that you’re only meant to ban longer drinking hours if people – or the police – object to them. Got that? Mind you, that passes more into the realm of “That’s Just Completely Fucking Stupid” than the Orwells.
Recent Comments
World of Harrowell
BORISFEED- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
Alternate Seat of TYR 
September 1, 2005 at 1:33 pm
Try the article by Ken Clarke in today’s Telegraph. “Europe should no longer be a divisive issue….. The constitution is dead”. What does this man do all day? Perhaps too much beer is bad for his health.
September 1, 2005 at 2:42 pm
Seeing as Jose Manuel Barroso today said he thinks it’s dead, I can’t see what’s so bizarre about Clarkey saying so.