Crikey – this clean speech campaign doesn’t need a swearing-in ceremony

Some people’s swear jars could finance the space programme.

So it’s not surprising clean speech is becoming more popular.

One involving two charities has been backed by the Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle MP – who has heard a few cuss-words in his life – as well as Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, spoon-bending illusionist Uri Geller and anti-racism campaigner Azeem Rafiq.

The Jewish education charity Seed and community project group Give It Forward Today (GIFT) have run the first ever UK-wide Clean Speech Project – to encourage constructive, positive speech.

It was inspired by a similar initiative in Colorado, where the month-long project was so successful it was adopted by the state.

A group of 27 primary schools, 8 secondary schools, 17 shuls and 14 community organisations got involved with Seed and GIFT’s Clean Speech Project from May 22-27.

There were also 40 adult education sessions, 15 assemblies and 15 parent-child learning activities in schools around the country.

Rabbi Avrohom Zeidman from GIFT said: “Whilst people can be givers in various forms, giving positive speech is an easy yet impactful way to make the world a better place.”

Rabbi Daniel Fine, co-founder from Seed, said: “In today’s polarised world, speech is too often used as a tool to dominate and divide instead of to communicate and connect. The Clean Speech Project aims to encourage awareness, inspire and educate about the gift of speech and empower people to use speech constructively.”

Find out more at www.cleanspeech.co.u