The Rise and Fall of Middle England

As usual after a budget, there has been much talk of Middle England. However, this exotic place didn't exist, according to the OED, until 1982. The adjective middle had, of course, been yoked to the noun englandular before, but only geographically. It meant the Midlands.

Then in the 80s Middle England and the Middle Englander emerged (there had been occasional 70s references to Middle Britain). The whole idea seems to have been imported from Middle America.

Anyway, I went off to google ngrams to see what they made of the concept, and it's really rather striking. In 1993, Middle England suddenly took off. It rocketed. It exploded. It careered upwards until 2002, when it suddenly started falling away.

This blog does not do political analysis. But I suggest you take a look at the graph yourself by clicking here.