The social impact of COVID is self-evident. It has touched the everyday aspects of each of our lives, from simple tasks such as shopping, to meeting family members on Zoom, to (not) socialising with friends. Each of these has been transformed over the last year in ways never imagined before March 2020.
This can also be said of the kind of language politicians use – and of the expectations their audiences have when listening to them. This is because politicians are no longer to appear in front of crowds, be they large or small. They don’t meet voters or their parties, and even in parliament they are only speaking in front of a small, socially distanced group of fellow MPs.