Retching out

Elizabeth Campbell takes over leadership of Kensington and Chelsea council. Her first statement? "...to reach out to the community so that wounds begin to heal".

That presumably means handing out Red Cross parcels of emergency clichés for the lucky residents of Grenfell Tower.

Reach out? What the fuck does that mean? Actually what does it mean, ever? All it says is "I'm just going to stand here and extend my arms towards you - it's up to you whether you grab hold or not. It's as useful - and empty and insincere and unsympathetic - as saying "I feel your pain".

I have a nagging suspicion that reaching out comes from the same book of deathly PR vocabulary as putting so at the beginning of a reply in a radio interview: it's not to be trusted.