Magistrates have been given a slew of new inclusive terms to follow in another shake up of things you can and can’t say.
Magistrates have been given new guidance for what words it should and shouldn’t use, with words like policeman and chairman being scrapped in favour of terms that are gender neutral.
Instead policemen will be replaced by police officers and chair will be used instead of chairman.
Additional guidance states that magistrates mustn’t say “disabled person” but rather “person with a disability”.
The phrase “committed suicide” or “taken their own life” is also out, with “died by suicide” now considered the appropriate phrase.
The Magistrates Association style guide now advises its staff to avoid gender specific phrases, in the latest move to police everyday language.
Magistrates have also been told to avoid umbrella terms about race, such as “black, Asian or minority ethnic groups”, which can be “unintentionally divisive”.
Chief executive of the association, Tom Franklin, says he wants the guide to “be part of everyone’s working day”.
However, Tory MP Nigel Mills told The Sun: “This is just going too far now. Policemen have been policemen since time began.
“With a backlog of cases surely magistrates need to focus on punishing criminals rather than worrying about upsetting people with the wrong words. It’s woke madness.”
Read more: ‘Woke madness’ strikes again as ‘policemen’ and ‘chairman’ axed for gender neutral terms
