... if you go back only 25 years, the "English disease" referred to rampant union demands, class conflict and rigidities that hampered productivity. At least in the sphere of popular factoid, all these disabilities are now presented as characterising the EU and Japan rather than the English-speakers.
http://johnquiggin.com/index.php/archives/2003/06/19/the-english-disease/
other people take it to mean English football hooliganism or even syphilis (!!!!!)