'User pays'; 'cost recovery'; 'affordable safety'! Once these words became part of the aviation lexicon it was obvious that safety would be the loser. The old idea of providing a safe environment for aircraft has evolved to the 'big sky' principle of traffic separation. Many of the procedures now used OCTA and in class E airspace would have been condemned as dangerous twenty years ago. Now finding the basement for safety in the skies is done by the 'white cane' method of detection. It will be normal from now on to have to fight each misguided proposal as it arises due to the lead in safety coming from financial razor gangs rather than aviators. Many pilots don't bother fighting the regulators anymore as the exercise is so fruitless. They concentrate on dealing with the safety issues as they are, day to day, out in the real world. The reduced ATC services around primary airports is just a frustration, whereas the lack of FIS services is a definite risk. Furthermore, congestion on many frequencies OCTA often makes gathering required traffic information and organizing separation difficult or impossible. That's just how it is already.
Now where is a phone box. I need some weather ....