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@ligma @zdl @valoisdubins no, it was primarily an ideologically driven asset stripping - started by Margaret Thatcher - then punctuated by periods of throwing money at the problem, rather than genuinely addressing real issues.
So ideology + bad management. The worst of both worlds.
@ligma @zdl @valoisdubins basically whatever your ideological position, I suspect we can both agree that kicking cans constantly down the road means nobody wins.
Like any system, you can only evolve a thing so far. Eventually you do have to tear it down and start again, even if the original goal is the same.
That was really what needed doing in the 1990s/2000s, and it's what either the next generation will do, or abandon completely and go very US.