A Humpty Dumpty Way With Words?

'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.'

This report, from the Times Online, ought to cause misgivings in all of us:

'The civil servant at the heart of a Whitehall leak investigation was in hiding last night as a political storm raged over the arrest of the Tory frontbencher Damian Green.

The 26-year-old civil servant was detained at his home in Middlesex at 6am on November 19. The assistant private secretary, who has been suspended from his job, is being looked after by the Home Office at a secret location because it owes him a “duty of care”, officials said.'

The phrase 'in hiding' usually describes someone evading capture, not someone who has been captured and whose whereabouts must therefore be known to the authorities. Whom is he hiding from and why does he need 'looking after'? The truth is, of course, that he is being held incommunicado and his anonymity prevents anyone from ensuring that he is being 'cared' for properly. Those questions notwithstanding, given the appalling record of carelessness on the part of those paid from our taxes to 'care' for us, and the still suspicious circumstances of the death of Dr David Kelly in 2002, it is, perhaps, not unreasonable to ask whether we will ever hear of the unnamed civil servant again.

There can be few people in The Tartan McReich's Führer's Br*tain of 'the nations and regions' who would willingly entrust themselves to the Home Office were they in need of 'care'.

Gruff Thanks to Old Holborn for the link.