British disease

British  

noun

1. the pattern of strikes and industrial unrest in the 1970s and early 1980s supposed by many during this time to be endemic in Britain and to weaken the British economy

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Example Sentences

"It's a British disease - we validate success by the exit rather than achievement of the business."

From BBC • May 31, 2017

In their very different ways, Cusk and Macdonald both admirably resist succumbing to the very British disease of self-deprecation, while also skirting any temptation to present an easily likeable literary persona.

From The New Yorker • Dec. 23, 2014

Those who ran television, he said, were "part of the British disease", hostile to markets and competition.

From BBC • Jun. 3, 2013

A death-masked protester trampled on a union flag in an anti-BP rally in New Orleans, but corporate incompetence is not a particularly British disease.

From The Guardian • Jun. 5, 2010

Even those put off by the glitz and the greed of Thatcherworld wouldn't really like to return to the gloomy, hangdog "British disease" atmosphere of the postwar period.

From Time Magazine Archive