Jumbo,
The last sentence you quote is made with tongue planted in firmly cheek and filed under (attempted) humour! As for being abrasive?
Who me, a Scot - never
Out of interest Jumbo, when submitting their post-flight/route report (as I assume they all do) is there any section that allows crews to mention any ATC issues encountered? Seems to me that if there is/were such a section, it would remind flight crews to contact ATC if there are issues that they wish to discuss and, perhaps, negate the use of PPRUNE to indirectly raise complaints. Clearly there would be issues with foreign ATS providers and indeed foreign crews. But it would allow UK-based crews to perhaps put these things 'to bed' with our (UK) ATS units before they grow any horns. Just a thought......
Regards,
Jock