Cuts, and the Orwellian world of Wiltshire Council jargon

NOW, children, does anyone know the meaning of these commonly-used words or phrases?
‘Targeted support’, ‘building stronger and more resilient communities’, ‘efficiencies’, ‘shaping services’, ‘harmonisation’, ‘synchronisation’, ‘encouraging volunteering’, ‘restructuring’.
Yes, little Johnny, you’re right. Have a house point. The answer is ‘cuts’.
They’re all prime examples, taken from recent reports and press releases, of the jargon with which Wiltshire Council (and it’s far from alone in this) seeks to control our perception of what it’s doing.
Even though it’s fooling no-one, it persists with its cynical manipulation of language. And despite having next to no money, it pays people to do it.
We’ll soon have ‘community led’ youth services, proposals for which have been ‘robustly scrutinised’ after ‘stakeholders’ (‘key’ or otherwise) have been ‘engaged with’ in an ‘open and transparent’ fashion.
The ‘drivers for change’, are, of course, cuts again – ultimately you can blame the government or the bankers, depending on your politics.
But rest assured – after all the meat has been picked from the bones, the resulting ‘community led’ skeleton services down at the shiny new ‘community campus’ will be ‘sustainable,’ ‘fit for purpose’ and in line with the council’s ‘vision for stronger and more resilient communities’ and there’ll be a whole lot of ‘safeguarding’ going on to make sure our young people experience ‘healthy and safe life outcomes’.
Phew, and to think they had me worried there for a minute!
Now I yield to no-one in my admiration for Wiltshire’s corporate communications department. Not least for their patience when I’m constantly pestering them for answers.
They are an endlessly polite, helpful, professional bunch and I like every one of them I’ve dealt with over the years.
But one has to ask: When the council says it can’t afford to keep vulnerable people with autism, physical disabilities or learning difficulties in the places they’ve come to regard as safe havens over the years, how on earth can it justify the continuing cost of churning out propaganda like this?
I certainly wouldn’t wish any of the communications team to be ‘reconfigured’ out of a job. But maybe their talents could be redirected towards teaching other staff how to write plain English?
Last autumn at the Playhouse I was spellbound by the touring production of 1984 that is currently wowing London audiences.
I read Orwell’s novel as a teenager, in that obligatory rite-of-passage way that kids do.
But I think I got more out of the play several decades further on, because I was able to draw parallels with real-life experience.
Newspeak, here we come.