The pilot, ac time etc would have been required during the spring to work up his/her routine. We don't have the assets in country to do that. The economic climate may not have changed that much in a year, but the pot of gold we had from before the slump has long since been depleted. Ops or enough training to keep safe and ready for the next work up in time for the next op round. Life in the RAF has changed massively even over the last 3 years, let alone the time since you were last in. I didn't aim to be patronising, the situation is pretty dire though and I think the cold facts are not known out on the street. The more the general public know about the state of public services (including defence), the easier it will be to ask the right questions in the run up to the general election.
For my money, we are prioritizing pretty well at the moment. The quantity of displays from the RAF this year should be ringing big alarm bells for the general public and is an easy snap-shot of the state of your nation's spare capacity.