24 MARCH 1990, Page 25

A DICTIONARY OF CANT

MINDED. A word fashionable amongst political bureaucrats who wish to pro- ject an antique gravitas and unassailable authority to camera, eg. 'I am minded to restrict the freedom to conduct un- registered personal associations which may easily be abused so as to conceal criminal conspiracies and terrorist cell activity, by introducing a system of friendship-registration which no sensi- ble and responsible person could oppose.' When I overhear the person who puts the mind in minded, I shall let you know.

Nigel Burke