Series commissioned by the Guardian's 'Mind your language' blog in the run-up to the 2015 UK General Election
By condemning the commonplace metaphor, the Plain English Campaign betrays a lack of sensitivity to the power of everyday language (20.12.2010)
There comes a time when you have to accept that some usages are dying or dead. We should focus our efforts on the living (11.02.2011)
Martin talks with Martin Kiernan and WHO consultant Claire Kilpatrick about how to gain better engagement on infection prevention by thinking about how words make people feel.
In this ‘Time To Shine’ podcast, host Oscar Santolalla invites Martin to talk about why he believes cartoon thinking is essential for communicators.
The best speeches and presentations are engaging and propositional – they make the audience sit up and take notice, the way a good cartoon does. Thinking like a cartoonist helps us to craft messages that attract people – and 'draw them in'.
The first speech we worked on with Dr Clare Gerada made headlines the following day. The controversial Health and Social Care Bill was in progress, and as the new Chair of the RCGP, Clare warned her colleagues that the proposed changes would turn GPs into "rationers" of health care – which threatened to break the bond of trust between doctors and patients.