{pp}As early as 1945 people started to realise that in order to write effectively and get their message across they needed to write in language that everyone could understand.

{pp}You get all dressed up for a great night out with your workmates and arrive at the event to welcome cocktails – the evening’s looking good, even though it’s a company anniversary bash or something similar. They’ve hired good music and the party’s getting better by the minute. Even the food at this huge hotel is surprisingly good.

{pp}So much work goes into producing documents, which is why they’re so long, but so little work goes into editing them.