In the early 1980s I bought a small paperback book called In A Dark Time (published in an era in which the dread of a potential nuclear war was palpable, but the book's still highly relevant today). The book was one of snippets, quotes and poems. One chapter was called "Words." It showed how the words we choose to use can be instruments of manipulation. In the present context, the repetition of certain words and phrases by politicians are often attempts to manipulate. Some are just annoying: if I hear Starmer et al. burbling on about how the Tories have only "sticking plaster" solutions, well I have this big box of ping-pong balls to chuck at the telly... but some are more insidious. "Refugees" are replaced by "asylum seekers" (so, rather than running away from something awful, they're coming here to get something). "Illegal immigrants:" well I was born a human being, just like every one of those people in the boats. I might have done a few illegal things (my speeding points have just expired, actually), but I'm not an illegal person. No-one could ever have helped being born, with the possible exception of Jesus, so we can't be illegal people. OK, we could use those expressions carelessly, but we should beware of allowing them to become embedded. "Criminal gangs" is a form of words I won't use, mainly because I won't talk Tory talk, but also because it's a woolly way of describing people I know nothing about (and neither does Sue Ellen Braverman). I notice that the Patels and Bravermen of this world steer away (hypocritically) of referring to "foreigners." I wonder why. Then there's those three-word slogans. I suppose the Tories think that the gullible British public can't cope with more than three words at a time. So it has to be "Take back control!" or "Get brexit done!" or "Stop the boats!"