Concrete issue 106 01 12 1999

Page 1

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Plain English exP-erts slate Union's P-rOP-OSed .· new constitution By JAMES GOFFIN, News Editor

BULL - that's what plain English experts reckon sums up the Union's attempt at rewriting its constitution. Top wordsmiths at the Plain English Campaign say that the draft rulebook being put forward by sabbs is too complicated, and will leave students dazed and confused. But Union bosses claim that the constitution doesn't need to be any simpler - because students never bother reading it. John Lister of the Plain English Campaign thinks the Union needs to have a serious re-think about the new constitution. "it's got a fair way to go before it could be considered plain English ." "it's very wordy, and uses unfamiliar words that people don't use in their normal day, like nomenclature and inter alia," railed John. "it's also very difficult to follow from point to point," he added.

Golden Bull And he slated one section setting out financial protection for Union staff as being a contender for the Campaign's

Golden Bull award · a prize that celebrates examples of truly bad English. But Union Academic Officer, Lisa Eldret, claims that the constitution has to be complicated. "lt must uso very legal •••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Other news: - Fridge plans scrapped 3 - Prince William coming to UEA? 2 - Knife attack off Unthank 4 language because our constitution has to allow us to set up the trading companies that generate our income, otherwise we couldn 't function ," she said . And she claimed that despite the jargon , students would be able to understand the rules · if they bothered reading them.

"To be honest, how many people are going to want to read the constitution in its entirety?"

Understand "I think most people if they read it would understand it, but we will probably also produce a 'users guide' to help," said Lisa. But the Plain English Campaign firmly rejected the Union's excuses. ''We helped NatWest bank rewrite their articles of memorandum, which were around 300 years old - and they subsequently managed to earn our Crystal Mark for clear English ," explained Mr Lister. And he attacked sabbs for seeking approval from solicitors rather than students . - Continued on page 6 - Comment: page 8

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A sneak preview of Norwich 's new nightclub Time. which opens next week. Full story on page 7

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