With Gordon Brown's departure from Downing Street last year many will have hoped that they never again heard the expression "hard working families". It was these who were said to be likely prey to anything a non Brown government might do to change anything, be they benefits, personal tax rates, VAT,- anything at all. Gordon loved it and trotted it out incessantly as did his henchmen some of whom still seem to occupy front benches in the House of Commons, only opposite those upon which they used to sit in what they clearly felt were their glory days.
Easyjet's new CEO Carolyn McCall, who may have loved the expression in her former days as head of Guardian newspapers, has assailed us with it again, -this time identifying the poor old "hard working families" as the sufferers from air travel taxes. Yes, they are. So are idle ,layabout benefit dependent families, hen and stag party revellers and all manner of n'er do wells of every shape ,size and age, working, shirking or just any unemployed through no fault of their own.
Please Ms McCall and others do not ever again churn out this patronising and ridiculous spine tingling phrase with its absurd vision of downtrodden hard workers uniquely crushed under foot to reinforce this or any other argument. It doesn't. It just makes what might otherwise be a good case suddenly highly suspect and emotive. Just state the facts and let them speak for themselves. Please don't make us all cringe or insult our intelligence again. Leave that to politicians.
