Repetition. Repetition. Repetition

Abstract

Special advisers in Whitehall are, as the term implies, special. Some are especially charming. Others are especially obnoxious. I’ll never forget hearing about one particularly offensive special adviser who said to their Secretary of State shortly after arriving at a new department, ‘You can’t trust the press office, you can’t trust the economists, you can’t trust the lawyers…’ And so the list went on. You can easily see how this kind of repetition could sweep a new arrival along, instilling in them a sense of fear, creating a powerful emotional reaction. That’s what repetition does. It communicates emotion.

‘People need to be reminded more than they need to be instructed.’

Samuel Johnson