Orwell comes across as frustrated and angry, and rightly so. He outlines how clear writing can be achieved: “Let the meaning choose the word, not the other way around”, and “Probably it is better to put off using words as long as possible and get one’s meaning as clear as one can.” Orwell also makes clear why it matters: “Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” It’s in this way that Politics and the English language is a prelude to his 1949 novel, 1984.