On the first page I am asked to guess my income position on a scale. The text reads “Someone on 50% would be bang in the middle with half the working population earning more and half less, so click where you think you are on the scale between 0% and 100%.”

I reckon that I am in the top ten percentile of wage earners, but do I select 10 or 90? Using 45% as an example would be a lot clearer.

On the next page, I am invited to enter my pay before tax and deductions. Without consulting my pay stub (helpfully delivered last Friday), I only know my net income. You know, the money that is put in my bank account by my employer. So I look up my gross wage.

And the magic meter confirmed my guess. It didn’t ask me any questions about marital status, size of family, disabilities etc. And it didn’t tell me anything about where I am positioned on the Middle Britain Scale. It’s just a wage distribution scale that takes no account of need.

Unsurprisingly, if I wanted to find a definition of “Middle Britain”, the Daily Mail is a fine resource. Here is where “Middle Britain” allegedly lives:
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/05/28/article-1189349-0520793B000005DC-298_468x274.jpg

The caption reads: “Middle Class Close: Those neither rich nor poor have been squeezed by taxes and miss out on benefits under New Labour”

Source article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1189349/PETER-OBORNE-New-Labours-victims-Middle-Britons-obey-law-work-long-hours-taxed-extinction-This-plain-wrong.html

I suggest that the TUC gets some photos of where “Middle Britain” really lives and posts them to the Daily Mail.

On the first page I am asked to guess my income position on a scale. The text reads “Someone on 50% would be bang in the middle with half the working population earning more and half less, so click where you think you are on the scale between 0% and 100%.”

I reckon that I am in the top ten percentile of wage earners, but do I select 10 or 90? Using 45% as an example would be a lot clearer.

On the next page, I am invited to enter my pay before tax and deductions. Without consulting my pay stub (helpfully delivered last Friday), I only know my net income. You know, the money that is put in my bank account by my employer. So I look up my gross wage.

And the magic meter confirmed my guess. It didn’t ask me any questions about marital status, size of family, disabilities etc. And it didn’t tell me anything about where I am positioned on the Middle Britain Scale. It’s just a wage distribution scale that takes no account of need.

Unsurprisingly, if I wanted to find a definition of “Middle Britain”, the Daily Mail is a fine resource. Here is where “Middle Britain” allegedly lives:
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/05/28/article-1189349-0520793B000005DC-298_468x274.jpg

The caption reads: “Middle Class Close: Those neither rich nor poor have been squeezed by taxes and miss out on benefits under New Labour”

Source article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1189349/PETER-OBORNE-New-Labours-victims-Middle-Britons-obey-law-work-long-hours-taxed-extinction-This-plain-wrong.html

I suggest that the TUC gets some photos of where “Middle Britain” really lives and posts them to the Daily Mail.

By pretending this group represent the average ‘man-in-the-street’, it makes it possible for politicians to target the real constituency that determines the outcome of elections – which are not average voters but the wealthy donors who determine who can afford to run a big campaign, and the newspaper editors who can praise or smear at will – while still appearing to have the average ‘man-in-the-street’ in mind.

That’s what Tony Blair realised. He saw Labour could win much more easily if they tailored their policies to fit the big industrial and media interests. That, more than MP’s individual expenses, is why reform of the political system in the UK is desperately needed.

I’d guess most people – rich and poor – would be amazed at the average household income in the UK. From just looking at the papers you would indeed imagine it was between £40-£60,000.

The phrase “silent majority” clearly only works if a large number of peole actually relate to the values expressed? In contrast Mondeo Man is clearly a metaphor, and yes advertising, like the rest of the world, uses models and simplifications to make sense of things.

As regards the question, and the implication that the majority of people oppose more state intevention because they falsely think they will end up paying for it, I think this underestimates people to a surprising degree.

As a part-time resident of Surrey I can confirm that the Middle Britain often spoken of does exist in at least some places.

In blunter language: It’s something made up in order to win votes/sell advertising space.

Actually, I took it to have a social meaning beyond just income, such a geography (e.g. the sub-urban South East and very much NOT the regions) and goldem mean (median?) social attitudes (e.g. largely pro-law and order but also pro-NHS).