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A comment was made on the blog today by a person who is an occasional contributor. They made the request that some of the language now becoming relatively commonplace, particularly when commentators are describing the Labour Party, Keir Starmer, and other members of the shadow cabinet, should be more moderate.
If I understand the comment correctly, they do not think that references to the Labour Party as, for example, Tory2, are helpful to understanding. In particular, for those who are not regular readers, such references might be straightforwardly confusing.
It was also implied that the use of semi-abusive corruptions of Labour’s name, or the name of Labour politicians, was generally unhelpful to the acceptance of this blog as a place for serious political comment.
I am aware of the importance of language in political discourse. I have, in my time, set out to change such language in areas on which I have been campaigning. However, I tend to agree with this contributor. I did, however, also sound out the opinion of several regular readers of the comments on this blog, none of whom regularly contribute themselves. I was left with a clear impression that they shared the view of this particular commentator that the use of relatively obscure terminology or terms of abuse that imply ongoing knowledge of what is said here, or an understanding of what might be called in-jokes, does not help to encourage wider readership.
Given that such wider readership is, I think, of overall benefit to the blog, can I request that those inclined to use these terms cease to do so? If comments are to have broad appeal and usefulness it would be better to either explain reasons for concern, or at least to use recognised language (for example, ‘neoliberal Labour’) instead of some of the terminology that has become commonplace of late.
To save me time, could I ask that contributors respect this request for a change in style so that the overall appeal of the blog and the comments upon it might be maintained?
Thank you for your assistance.
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