I think that Widger meant that the airspace is neither civil, or military. The airspace is a national resource and is managed by both the civil and military agencies. We have an established en-route structure to facilitate civil aircraft movements, controlled by civil air traffic controllers. Military ATCOs control throughout UK airspace, with the onus on the military to take 5 and coordinate passage with civil ATCOs due to the flexibility inherent in military ops compared to civil en-route traffic. At the end of the day however, we all (generally) work to the same set of rules to maintain safe and efficient flight.