As a new poster to this site fron OZ I would also guess much of the different attitude between the UK and USA is the fact that most of the GA makes of aircraft are American therefore it has a much bigger lobby to govt re employment, overseas trade/ earnings etc. Also the USA like here is a continent made for air travel with travel times slashed compared to surface travel. The UK on the other hand is made for railways. Short distances between heavily populated centres. No doubt why the rail network is so popular over there.