Have you ever noticed how among our politicians a word or phrase becomes de riguer?

Particularly in fashion right now is "sleepwalking". I'd already noticed how often it seemed to be used by the political classes but now even Tata Steel has jumped on to the bandwagon.

Here's just a few times I've picked up on its use in the last year.

Jan 2015 - Ed Balls warned that Britain is in danger of “sleepwalking to exit from Europe”, threatening jobs and investment.
Feb 2015 - The Government has been accused by the EU Committee of the House of Lords of "sleep-walking" into the crisis over Ukraine.
Mar 2015 - David Cameron has vowed that his plan to hold an EU referendum will stop Britain “sleepwalking towards the exit”.
May 2015 - Osborne warns that the EU is sleepwalking out of the global economy
June 2015 - Stephen Kinnock says the Government and Tata Steel are sleepwalking into the first steel strike in decades.
Oct 2015 - Estelle Morris states that we are sleepwalking into UK’s worst teacher recruitment crisis
Dec 2015 - Lord Hain warns that Britain was in danger of “sleepwalking into withdrawal from the European Union.”
Jan 2016 - Left Wing Economist David Blanchflower said "the Bank of England is at risk of sleepwalking into a financial crisis".
Feb 2016 - Tata warns that Europe could be "sleepwalking" into even greater steel crisis.

My theory is that the reason this word hasn't surfaced on the pages of the Ferret is that most of us who write there are grounded in real life and for us, "sleepwalking" is something unusual that might affect a relative or even ourselves at night. If you look at its use by our masters, it's usually connected with a possible future crisis. I've decided to join the club, so I'm just about to sleepwalk my way to the fridge and check on my stocks of Belgian lager, which I believe are reaching crisis levels.