Mind your language! There has recently been another smattering of incidents featuring accusations of inappropriate choice of words, or even just the wrong tone. I think it’s worth taking a closer look at some of these for what they reveal about our hang-ups, the tender areas of our discourse. What makes us wince? What is considered appropriate, and what isn’t?

On last week’s Edition podcast, former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams spoke of there being something ‘demonic’ about the current political culture of the US. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s ‘rhetoric about the violent obliteration of enemies’ strikes him as ‘diabolical’ – and of course Trump’s recent threat that ‘an entire civilisation will end’ (it didn’t).

One of the most disconcerting things about Trump in general is that he is often surprising, in a way that politicians generally very much aren’t. We really don’t like to be surprised. When a politician does something sudden, bold or unexpected, we gulp and get scared; the last time it happened in Britain was probably the Cummings-inspired prorogation of Parliament back in 2019. Most political outrages are grindingly slow and procedural........

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