Some interesting posts. My humble opinion is that NATS's problems have been exacerbated by a greedy and dishonest government. Originally they (the Govt) were asking for £500m in return for a 46% share in the company. They then let a perceived bidding war break out to push the price to £800m before selling it to the one group who had an inherent and active interest in a safe and efficient ATC system - the Airline Group. (Having just taken £800 million quid, guess how much the government is going to re-invest in air transport? Sod all is how much).
Meanwhile, the Airline Group - who genuinely want to invest in, and improve, the ATC system - are now being shafted by the banks wanting the interest payments on the damn great loan they had to take out to buy NATS. Before a penny gets invested, TAG are £800 million out of pocket. (Plus interest). And don't forget, the biggest shareholder is still the government with 49%.
Now I'm sorry if I'm being naive, simplistic or just too angry, but why can't the government put a bit of that cash back into the system? A cynical colleague suggested that Blair 'n' Brown would like to see NATS go bankrupt so they can do a Railtrack: take the company back into public control for a pittance, and keep the original £800 million for the Treasury. But that would be dishonest, and therefore wouldn't happen....would it?
As one of the posts above said, though, when you're plugged in, you're just doing the job as best you can - and probably the majority of ATCOs enjoy the job! (but don't tell the boss)