In a tv debate recently, someone mentioned ‘joined-up thinking’, and got unexpected laughter from the audience. Partly this was the audience’s perfectly reasonable satirical response to one of the early New Labour catchphrases. [There’s an Observer article about it’s removal from the political lexicon here for those that enjoy socio-political analysis.] As an amateur calligrapher – and newspaper reader – it struck me that the wonk who dreamed up the phrase was a little … well, wonky, in their analogy.
I guess they thought joined-up writing was more sophisticated, intelligent and efficient that what we used to call print stick – each letter standing alone and crafted in isolation. Well, yeah but no but … (more…)
Don't Compromise! 