Jacqueline Athanasatos: You Took the Words Right Out Of My Mouth

The Plain Language Bill 2021 – It’s a race to the bottom, folks…

It is something of a perplexing juxtaposition to see recent reports that “streaming in schools” is discriminatory and racist and yet, surely, The Plain Language Bill is much the same. It is implicitly assuming the hearer/reader lacks a certain level of intelligence or education. 

Policy-makers are now planning a monumental makeover for the legalese inherent in public documents that interface We, The People and Them, The Red Tape Brigade. To create a new “plain language” framework in the simplest possible terms. 

Jacqueline Athanasatos: Hands Off Our Bard!

Is nothing sacrosanct from the insidious creep of The Cancel Culture? Apparently not.

The distressing, un-glad tidings that Creative New Zealand has withdrawn its modest $30,000 per annum funding for the Shakespeare in Schools programme, has come as a body blow to those who value the enduring literary power and drama of the late great William Shakespeare.

This decision was apparently justified by its “advisory panel” opining that “Shakespeare was locked within a canon of imperialism and missed the opportunity to create a living curriculum and show relevance to the contemporary art context of Aotearoa.”