Nothing to Keir (except Keir itself)
As a writer and as someone who is duty bound to occasionally make precise reference to the bill payer at 10 Downing Street, the use of square brackets, with a last-moment instruction to drop in the ‘correct’ leader of this country is become absurdly common.
Even when that name is duly inserted, there is no guarantee that the name will be correct when the reader’s eyes and brain process his or her credentials.
For years square brackets have existed in the shadows and, yet, through an embarrassing set of democratic and, indeed, non-democratic circumstances they have become the de facto kings of punctuation, even if they never see the light of day.
As editors, we drag square brackets from the suite of lesser-spotted keyboard characters with discombobulating regularity.
And it’s not a task any of us relish. [Liz Truss] is not an insertion I would wish on my worst enemy. No, not even [Nigel Farage]. The truth is that all this dirt-digging and tittle-tattle, and the installation of a revolving door at the Prime Minister’s residence has consequences for pharma.
10 Downing Streeting is by no means a guarantee. The position he vacated in order to chase the poisoned chalice caused unwanted turbulence throughout the healthcare system. [Insert something here about waiting times, dentistry and surgery being forgotten in the whirlwind of posturing and chaos.]
Enjoy the mag,
John Pinching
editor
