It’s called nuspeak.
It’s for the occasional post where I rant about redefinitions by politicos to make the world fit their targets, instead of having their targets fit the world. I might even go back and recategorise a post or two (the one where satisfactory stopped meaning good enough springs to mind).
The inspiration for this effort?
The target of making two million people take up physical activity by 2012 has been regularly cited by ministers but is quietly being dropped. Official participation rates in sport are likely to fall by at least a million people, as the most popular activities – recreational cycling and walking – will no longer count. From April, the number of grassroots clubs and coaches that can win lottery money to support their work will also fall.
Cycling is no longer a sporting activity it would appear. And funding is only attached if you’re wearing a strip and in a team. (Pauses to wonder whether swimming is a sport then.)
And has anyone told Gordon Brown?
But his message is at odds with that given 10 days ago by Gordon Brown, when he addressed a Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation conference through a video later posted on YouTube. He said: ‘The government has issued a challenge to sport. We want two million more active people by 2012. It’s our responsibility to make sure that women and girls represent at least half of those two million … it’s a great opportunity. Let’s take it.’
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