It's Official

As if we didn't know there was an election coming up, it's now officially official. Parliament gets dissolved and we have five and a half weeks of hyperbole of the highest order.

Here is today's collection of sound bites from the party leaders:

Cameron:

Voters face a 'stark choice'

UK is on the 'right track'

Labour would create 'economic chaos'

Miliband:

Conservatives pose a 'clear danger' to UK firms

'nothing worse than playing political games with our membership in Europe'

Clegg:

His party would occupy the 'reasoned centre ground'

Farage:

His party was the 'radical' choice

Bennett:

The Greens are offering a 'message of hope'

What the hell does any of that actually mean??

I had this bizarre image over the weekend of each party leader laying out a bunch of words they could say and then taking a bicycle pump and pumping each one up till it was unrecognisable as a word in relation to other words.

That's what all these sound bites, attention grabbing exhortations seem like - a bunch of words strung together to get the most emotional punch without actually meaning anything.

I yearn for clear and concise communication spoken in simple, non accusatory, non-blaming language.

Given that that's not going to happen I'm now looking forward to playing the 'how bad can it get?' game. This game is where you get to identify just how overblowing, heart-string pulling, fear inducing our party leaders can get.

I'm sure by now someone muse have created Election Bingo, where you have a grid of the most expected and common over-inflated phrases and you can tick each box as you hear those tried and (un)true and fabulously trite slogans trotted out. If no one has, you can create your own.

Do I sound cynical? You bet I am. All this verbiage we are going to be subjected to for FIVE AND A HALF WEEKS has almost nothing to do with what will happen once one of these party leaders or group of party leaders make it to Number 10.

Remember, I'm not commenting on policies, just on politics.

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By Jo Ellen Grzyb, Director, Impact Factory