things can only get better

Oh no, the curse of "best practice".

It's a Blairite favourite that's spread into the general vocabulary. Patricia Hewitt can't do an interview without talking about BP in some aspect of our health service.

And its not only hospitals. It is applied by the Government to everything from school dinners to personal hygiene.

What does BP actually mean? I suppose it means er...best. The best example of current thinking.

Coming soon, some examples of best practice in plain English...

Keep it simple.

Will

a lightbulb moment

Oh dear, Saturday morning in a certain Scandinavian furniture retailer.

A stressful-enough experience, but made worse by a horrible piece of jargon.

In the lighting department we picked a lamp and then looked for a bulb to fit it. Only it isn't a bulb any more - it's now a "light source".

Apparently, light sources come in screw-in and plug-in varieties and we needed a 40 watt one. Not very illuminating.

Does anyone know what these people are talking about?

Will