A is for Asbo, B is for buy-to-let and C is for chav: the words that came to prominence during the past 10 years say much about Britain under Tony Blair.

During his time in Downing Street, Blair presided over a country where inequality rose but nobody seemed to object too much. At the bottom are the Asbo generation, an underclass whose delinquency Blair has tried to police with antisocial behaviour disorders: more than 9,800 have been dished out.

Some recipients were Neets (not in employment, education or training), others were simply chavs, one of the most commonly used of the top 100 words to enter the Collins English Dictionary during the Blair years.

“We produced an edition of the dictionary in 1998 and have another out shortly,” said Cormac McKeown, one of the editors. “So it bookends the era quite well.”

The chavs favoured Burberry caps and towelling tracksuits. Other tribes wore hoodies or indulged in a bit of happy-slapping — beating up some innocent while filming them on their mobile phones, probably after binge drinking.

Some may have been lucky enough to go to a beacon school or city academy, but blended learning and literacy hours have not worked for all. As for lifelong learning, forget it.

On the other side of town the people of middle England had more pressing concerns.

Focus groups revealed they were keen on Isas and where to acquire their next buy-to-let flat.

They fretted about Gordon Brown’s stealth taxes and moaned about speed cameras and the congestion charge.

They liked some benefits of globalisation as long as their own jobs were not relocated overseas. But after initial enthusiasm for Blair, many middle Englanders began to yearn for regime change, especially after it happened overseas.

Iraq, said Blair, had become a rogue state with WMD. It was no longer on-message.

Should it be dealt with by a neighbourhood warden or a community support officer? In the event Blair chose to sex up the stakes and went to war as part of the wider conflict against Al-Qaeda.

Now Blair is departing (though he’s not suffering extraordinary rendition), but Britain is still looking for an exit strategy from Iraq. There’s not much wiggle room left and, despite joined-up government, nobody has come up with a road map, let alone a one-size-fits-all solution.

When Gordon Brown takes over as prime minister, it will herald a change of tone and vocabulary. Instead of Blair’s snappy promises of a third way, and being tough on this and that, we are more likely to get investment over the economic cycle in pursuit of prudence for a purpose.

BLAIRISMS

- Education, education, education

- The people’s princess

- It’s not a burning ambition for me to make sure that David Beckham earns less money

- I’m a pretty straight kinda guy

- We here in Britain stand shoulder to shoulder with our American friends in this hour of tragedy

- I feel the hand of history on our shoulder

Least likely to say

Post neo-classical endogenous growth theory

BROWNISMS

- The test of our fiscal policy is that we match a commitment to balance the current budget over the economic cycle with an ability to make the necessary long-term investments

- I commend this budget to the house

- Our starting point must be the concerns, the struggles and the hopes and ambitions of families in every part of our country

- We must build a progressive consensus

Least likely to say

Bovvered? Am I bov vered?

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