I must say as a disinterested observer (I don't fly in the UK and so have no axe to grind) that I find some of the comments of some of the ATCOs on this forum to be arrogant and inflammatory.
It does not give a good impression of the profession, but is sadly in line with the observable behaviors of some people in the UK service sectors who seem to think that the customers are dirt.
Customers, because although the airlines pay directly for NATS, they don't pay VAT on fuel, which therefore means that there is a large gap in government revenue and the result of that is that the books need to be balanced by extra taxes in other areas, with the result that general public (including PPLs) subsidise airline travel, thus offsetting the cost of NATS.