Lego

I gave a presentation a year ago for the Local Government Association, where I played a game where audience members could chose any one word from each of three columns and make up a new piece of public service jargon.

You can play it too!

A	B	C
Service	Strategic	Transformation
Place-Shaping	Renewal	Assessment
Comprehensive	Performance	Agreement
Democratic	Collaborative	Partnership
Local	E-Readiness	Strategy
Corporate	Community	Pathfinders
Civil	Development	Delivery
Area	Capacity	Targets

Words do matter. But these are not the words that ordinary people use. One of the great privileges of our work here is that it brings us into contact with people and their experiences of public services up and down the country.  We ask people what marks out the best public services? People speak about empathy, compassion, warmth, the human touch, respect and focusing help on people who need it most.

So I am delighted to see that the Local Government Association has now identified 200 words to avoid - policy people put these words together like bits of lego, pretending that they mean something when they’re done.

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