Don't think there's anything sad about that. I started life as a Civil Servant and I think the move of UK ATC into the "private" sector was an unmitigated disaster.
I'm sorry HD, this is not a dig at you but why is it that some people think that in the UK everything ATC is NATS. For long before NATS was 'privatised' there were privately operated ATC units all over the UK. OK, they were not at what were then 'the big airports' but they were there.....and what is wrong with them? I've worked in both NATS, for long established private operators and for smaller organisations that went through privatisation before NATS did. They all had on thing in common - if there was a good boss, they were good places to work. And the converse was true. Perhaps the reason that HD thinks it was a disaster is because managers in NATS went from cosy civiol service types to commercial business managers - I guess some were simply unprepared, some liked the idea of being tycoons and other made the transition well becase they either had inate talent or had been trained at some point. But one thing is clear - having an ATC licence does not automatically make one a good comercial business manager!
The business about privatisation and safety is slightly different. It doesn't matter what basis ATC is run on, as long as there is a good and effective safety regulator then ATC will be safe. Whether a regulator is good and effective and whether there is scope for improvement in the regulator are different topics entirely.