"Doublespeak," a concept usually attributed to author George Orwell, in which deliberately ambiguous or evasive language is used to disguise or distort actual meaning, is alive and well in the Government's latest policy for adult learning, according to the writer, as exemplified by recommendations of the Leitch report and demand-led funding consultation proposals published by the Department for Education and Skills and the Learning and Skills Council. The new adult learning system emphasizes "choice" as the driving force, but the author is concerned that that exercising "choice" seems possible only if a learner chooses a course that the Government wants them to choose or that they have the means to pay for, whatever the fee. The author examines the concerns around a "demand-led" system, and advocates for a vision that does not equate demand based solely on what employers say they require and with what individuals are prepared to pay for themselves or that the Government will subsidise from some form of learner accounts.