Truth is always the first casualty in an election, as in a war. In the electoral process the English language suffers some nasty injuries. Consider, among many examples, the idea of “leadership.” The word has been trumpeted around and fought over as if it was a universally accepted virtue, like wisdom or honesty. But leadership is just a neutral quality, like energy. It is not good or bad in itself. Leadership can take you to the top of the mountain or push you over a cliff. There’s nothing more depressing than hearing intelligent people crying out for leadership. Someone will be only too happy to provide it. If we look to history, as we always should, we can certainly find great leaders, like Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dr. Martin Luther King and Winston Churchill. But if we consider political leadership down the ages it seems obvious that, on the whole, the suffering citizens of the world would have been better off without it. Think of some of the most famous political leaders of the past