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Words matter, to cut through omnishambles

15 43
19.04.2024

Justice Michael Lee dispensed more than a dose of justice this week; he brought the word omnishambles into common lexicon in the most apposite way.

The Bruce Lehrmann case, with all its roundabouts and rabbit holes, was an omnishambles, he announced, in just one of the sublime descriptions that gambolled out of his 324-page judgment.

Omnishambles. First used 15 years ago in the BBC political satire The Thick of It, became the Oxford English Dictionary Word of the Year in 2012, before being formally added to the dictionary in 2023.

In brief, it means shambolic disorder. Chaos. Not like your child’s bedroom, however much of a mare’s nest it might be.

Omnishambles is a cracking way to describe havoc in politics and decision making, budgetary decisions and international disorder.

And it’s not just this week’s case – where Justice Lee so aptly described Lehrmann as “having escaped the lions’ den”, before making “the mistake of going back for his hat”, that stands as a stellar example of the omnishambles we live among.

Our treatment of mental health is a........

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