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LONDON TIMES
It Wasn’t Like This In My Day
A new old part of my Somewhere London
Are you an Anywhere person or a Somewhere person? Do you identify with your experiences or with an area?
The terms Anywheres and Somewheres were coined by David Goodhart, a British journalist, in his 2017 book The New Tribes Shaping British Politics. Written in the aftermath of Brexit, he proposed that the old tribes of left and right no longer applied and that people are now more likely to make decisions based on whether their worldview is that of an Anywhere or a Somewhere.
But of course, nothing’s quite that simple in real life. Especially when you identify with a Somewhere-Anywhere part of London.
Anywhere is Somewhere
Despite being just 25% of the population, Anywheres dominate British society from politics to journalism to business leaders according to Mr Goodhart. They are generally well-educated and have often moved from their original place of birth to live in a major city, typically London.
They base their identity on life experiences rather than location and are almost certainly middle-class.
Somewheres are around 50% of the UK population and as you’d expect from the name, they identify more with a location.
