Listening to radio 4 while driving yesterday, I was engrossed. It was a phone-in programme about the NHS being 'weaponised' as the UK hurtles towards another general election.
Pretty much everyone phoning in said political parties should stop point scoring. But few thought it would be possible to extricate the NHS from politics. Elections are won and lost on whether or not public services like the NHS are delivering what the electorate expect them to.
What jarred though was the words being used. In the past the NHS was a 'political football' now it is being 'weaponised'.
When did that shift in language happen?
And importantly, what does the shift to such violent nomenclature suggest? Are we becoming immune to the meanings of words? And if so, how does this affect our psyche?
'Bed blocker' was the other term at the centre of much debate.