Mea Culpa: Self-interest and the common good

In an editorial about the effect on universities of the A-level imbroglio, we said: “It is very much in their self-interest to fill their places this year with the best domestic students, for the supply of international students will inevitably be sharply down.”

Thanks to Paul Edwards for pointing out that the “self-” is not needed, although I suppose it could be that it subliminally reinforces the argument, originally Adam Smith’s, that “self-love” can promote the common good. Smith used the plain term “interest” in The Wealth of Nations: “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.” But then he added: “We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love.”

Filler phrases: “In terms of” is one of those filler phrases that the reader doesn’t usually notice, but a writer ought to, because it makes any sentence feel weak. We used it in a report of the virtual Democratic Party convention, where, to change the subject back to the nominee, we said: “In terms of Joe Biden…” A simple “As for…” would have worked fine.

Sometimes “in terms of” is used to bolt together phrases that don’t mean much. When we wrote, “In terms of pure ability, Sturridge was exceptional at his peak,” for instance, we tried to hurry the reader past what we meant by “pure ability”. We could just have said: “Sturridge was exceptional at his peak.”

Good rain: It rained last week, which usually heralds an outbreak of “travel chaos” in headlines. But the only cases were in headlines about the change in quarantine rules: “Travel chaos as Britons race to beat 4am deadline.” I think there may have been a few queues in a few places – not quite the vast formless void supposed to have existed before the creation of the universe.

We also had one instance of “stormy weather conditions”, which were expected to deter small boats crossing the Channel. The word “conditions” often creeps into these reports, I suppose because it makes them sound more like a weather forecast.

And we did have an isolated outbreak of a meteorological value judgement, in a review of umbrellas, in which we said “bad weather is no reason not to go outside”. I’ve said it before, but “bad” weather is what makes this country green and great.