Empowerment? Dictionary will explain what the politicians are really saying

We all know that politicians don't always say exactly what they mean.

Now a dictionary has been compiled to help us decipher some of the confusing language used by ministers and MPs.

The 2008 Lexicon from the Centre for Policy Studies lists more than 100 words and phrases, plus translation.

Examples include "empowerment" which, according to the lexicon, really means "ensuring that citizens do what the Government wants".

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"Fast track" means "not allowing Parliament sufficient time to consider the implications of new legislation" while "guidance" can be interpreted as "government interference".

The think-tank says that New Labour spin doctors have taken the manipulation of language - like the Newspeak of Orwell's 1984 - to extremes over the past ten years.

In a preface it says: "Politicians have manipulated language, often motivated by the desire to create a sense of activity and purpose and thereby to justify their existence.

"But New Labour has taken this disguise to new heights in its desire to be seen to be solving every problem. By the huge expansion of its public relations machinery, this Government has blurred the line between words and actions.

"Talking about a problem has come to mean the same as doing something about it."

The perface warns: "Familiar words have in many cases been drained of their original meaning. Others have come to mean their opposite.

"This corruption of language has infected all political parties, is endemic in public services, and is rapidly spreading into the media."