An official announcement

The following official statement was issued this morning.

“A temporary ceasefire has been agreed among combatants in the Semantic Wars. 

A list of banned words and phrases has been drawn up including ‘Itemised Phone Bill’, ‘The Outside of an Envelope’ and ‘We only want to do what [named Silicon Valley company] does’.

Any permutation of (indiscriminate, blanket, mass, dragnet, random, uncontrolled, at will) and (surveillance, trawling, snooping, browsing, monitoring) is also prohibited, whether accusations or denials thereof. 

Use of the term 'Snoopers Charter' will be regarded as grounds for immediate termination of the accord.”

Early indications are that the truce is unlikely to hold.

[BREAKING NEWS, 10.45 am. Unconfirmed reports suggest that teams of inspectors are in the process of being deployed to eliminate stockpiles of unused non-denial denials.]