Political correctness is damaging our language
For very new readers, it behoves us to point out that only females become pregnant. True, there was once a well-regarded Saatchi & Saatchi advertising campaign featuring men disguised as expectant mothers but this was making a political point about men making decisions about women's bodies. The fundamental biological differences have not been changed either by BBC News style guides or National Health Service gender self-identification rules (which render expectant women as 'birthing persons').
What has changed is that language is becoming increasingly caged, for fear of causing offence. Anne Robinson, former presenter of The Weakest Link quiz show, found that language once seen as funny or edgy ('I never let a thought go unsaid') was later viewed as cruel or bullishly blunt. The hypersensitivity of a few is constraining language and creating a pablum of double-speak.
• BBC bosses back Martine Croxall over 'pregnant people' correction
The result is that the likes of Ms Croxall must add paralinguistic signals, such as the arching of a brow or the rolling of an eyeball, to distance themselves from the prepared text on the autocue. There is charm in these subversive gestures; few have forgotten the interviewer Jeremy Paxman's curled lip as he struggled to remain courteous. But too much ground has been surrendered in the name of political correctness. The result is damaging our language and clouding our expression.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
24 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
ALISON MCGOVERN: 'People are working hard but there are still too many being left behind'
Employment Minister Alison McGovern writes for The Mirror saying the government 'will ensure that everyone has the chance to succeed' as new job figures published No one knows better than Mirror readers that right now, people up and down the country are working hard — but there are still too many being left behind. In previous years, economic inactivity grew. That's people who aren't working and aren't able to look for work right now. Nearly three million people are out of work because they are sick, for example. If we want to grow our economy, we must do more than celebrate our talent — we must invest in it, develop it, and remove the obstacles that prevent people from thriving. Nearly a million young people are out of work and not learning either. They have the potential to earn a crust — but can't access the help and opportunities to get that first job, and that's when we all lose out. We've already made work fairer and more secure with increases to the National Minimum Wage and strengthening Statutory Sick Pay. We are investing in our energy, transport, and homes, all of which will create jobs. But to truly boost our economy, we also need to look beyond those already in work and extend support to those striving to enter it. That's why under our Plan for Change; we're backing talent by partnering with businesses to give people the skills they need to succeed in the jobs market, reaching out to 8,000 businesses to offer them a free support service. We're tackling structural barriers with huge investment in childcare, the NHS, and transforming our jobcentres to open up also investing in our young people by guaranteeing them the chance to earn or learn. We're not short of talent in this country. I see that every time I put the telly on, go to the football. Or when I meet the young people signing up to be apprentices in every field from building naval ships to cooking alongside great chefs in our seaside towns. The problem is making sure those with talent are given the support to rise. And with our Plan for Change, we will ensure that everyone has the chance to succeed. That will make all of us - young or old - truly proud.
BBC News
24 minutes ago
- BBC News
Knife crime and other offences fall in London, says Sir Sadiq Khan
Sir Sadiq Khan has admitted there is a "long way to go" when it comes to fighting crime in London, despite figures suggesting a potential drop in some serious mayor says new City Hall data shows knife crime dropped by 19% between April and June this year compared with the same period last year, while the number of residential burglaries, personal thefts and personal robberies also some offences, such as possession of weapons, rape and drug trafficking, all increased in that recorded crime has increased by 31.5 % in the Metropolitan Police area of London in the last 10 years, with violent crime increasing by 40%, according to official crime data. The data from the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime - which is not yet publicly available - appears to show annual falls in:Theft from a person from 25,272 to 21,937 (13%)Robbery of personal property from 7,106 to 6,209 (13%)Residential burglary from 7,974 to 7,144 (10%)The mayor of London said: "The latest figures show robbery, theft, residential burglary and knife crime are down in London, but there's still a long way to go before I'm satisfied."Backed with record funding from City Hall, the Met is putting high-visibility policing at the heart of fighting crime." 'Crime is up' According to the Office for National Statistics, many crimes recorded against people increased between the years ending June 2015 and March 2025, including violence against the person (40%), possession of offensive weapons (23%), sexual offences (75%) and theft from the person (207%).Reform UK Assembly Member Alex Wilson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service : "If Sadiq Khan thinks London is getting more safe, he needs to get out more. "The idea he points to incremental changes in just a few categories is ridiculous.""The long-term trends under Sadiq Khan are clear: knife crime is up, theft is up, shoplifting is up, fare evasion is up, phone thefts at the highest ever seen, and just 2% of burglaries in outer London result in a charge or analysis of the figures comes soon after the Metropolitan Police laid out proposals to close almost half of police station front counters in London - a move critics said would have a "devastating" impact on Met's commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, has said despite funding increases, the forces faces a £260m shortfall and will have to reduce its he said the force was becoming "more capable" and was focused on "driving down crime on issues that matter most to Londoners".The Mayor of London has pledged a policing blitz on London's 20 most blighted town centres for shoplifting, robbery, knife crime and antisocial behaviour this summer.
The Guardian
24 minutes ago
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on Labour's feelgood economy: it's not for everyone – especially the poorest
When Sir Keir Starmer told reporters last week that his government's upcoming budget would 'build on what we've done' by focusing on 'living standards' and 'making sure that people feel better off', it was clear that he was trying to shift the political narrative from soulless statistics to lived experience. But if the prime minister is serious, he should look at the latest forecast from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR). The thinktank warns that while some households may indeed 'feel better off', many – particularly the poorest – will not. NIESR says real disposable income for the bottom tenth of households will fall this year. Living standards for the poorest fifth of Britain are well below their pre-pandemic level. This analysis rather deflates Treasury ministers' claims that real wages under Labour had risen more in 10 months than they had in the 10 previous years of Conservative government. This political attack line might be arithmetically sound, but to make it stick requires a generous statistical interpretation. What ministers have done is go back to the post-2010 austerity years, when real wages slumped after the financial crisis. Critics on social media have warned against cherrypicking time periods. They say real pay climbed gradually between 2015 and 2019 in the UK, but dropped again during the twin inflation shocks of Covid and the Ukraine war, before rebounding sharply after 2023. Ministers are scoring political points – but these are cheap given that there have been, so far, no significant changes in industrial policy, collective bargaining or public spending. In fact, real wage gains under Labour have been modest. Average weekly earnings in real terms were £523 last July and £527 this June – an increase of less than 1%. Hardly a new dawn for workers. More troubling is the distribution – which is masked by the use of average figures. Strong wage growth, says NIESR, has been concentrated in the tech and public sectors, where low‑paid workers are underrepresented. Above-inflation increases in minimum wage haven't compensated for reductions in working hours. No surprise then that the thinktank's data shows that middle- and upper-income households are seeing improvements in living standards, while the poorest are falling further behind. For these households, costs such as food and rent are rising faster than incomes. They won't feel better off – because they aren't. The upshot is that real personal disposable income rose by 4.1% in 2024-25, but the gains went almost entirely to better-off households. Today's unemployment figures show four-fifths of recent job losses concentrated in retail and hospitality – sectors that employ large numbers of low-paid workers. Clearly, for low-income families, the cost of living crisis has not abated. NIESR warns ministers to act – or risk letting the poorest slide into destitution. The country's problem lies in its imbalances. For many Britons, the modest post-pandemic recovery in real incomes has come about largely because inflation fell. But productivity growth remains anaemic, and the underlying economic model – which is financialised, service-heavy and regionally lopsided – is widening inequalities. If the next budget fails to offer anything more than supply-side tweaks or fiscal restraint in the name of credibility, Sir Keir will find that 'building on what we've done' is not enough. For the poorest Britons, what's been done so far doesn't look much like progress at all.
