The Crashed Pips Cliché Counter: Ed Balls

As I’ve mentioned on this site before, it always seems that politicians and spokespeople use predetermined phrases in all of their speeches. It invariably nettles me if I try to watch a report on Newsnight about Prime Minister’s Questions.

I recently came across the Downing Street YouTube channel, and the first thought that came into my mind was how infested it was with political clichés. You can see where this is going.

So, it is with great pleasure that I present the Crashed Pips Cliché Count-O-Matic 2007+ New Labour Government Edition With SmartLoad Checking Technology, or the Cliché Counter for short. Put simply, I’ll analyse a PR video, and keep a running total in the corner of how many clichés they use. It’s almost like a swear box, although the politicians are too busy using their public money to pay their parking fines.

So, here’s my first analysis – a rather interesting video in which we see Ed Balls stuttering, hesitating and clearly reading off an autocue littered with the words ‘invest’ and ‘progress’.

Enjoy.