National Plain English Day fell on Friday 9 December 2011 and coincided with the Plain English Campaign’s annual Golden Bull awards.
National Plain English Day started with the launch of the campaign when the supporters travelled to Parliament and set to shredding jargon-filled documents on Parliament Green. The police then intervened and read out the legalese-filled Metropolitan Police Act, prompting Chrissie Maher, founder of Plain English Campaign to ask,
“Does all that mean we have to go?”
Since then the campaign has been fighting against the use of jargon and gobbledygook in public information from both private and public service organisations. The awards ceremony recognises public nominations gathered over the year for both well and poorly written information.
