Controllers have every right to be cheesed off when pilots tell them what they're doing without advance warning or clearance.
However, and unfortunately, the beancounters have it so that the norm can be perfectly well caterer-for. Anything beyond that is extra, so when loads are heavy on the R/T, it is difficult to get a word in edgeways. When weather is bad, there is little enough space to manoeuvre. When you really need a direct routing, the controllers are that p****ed off with aircraft asking for it that they refuse it.
Our political masters are using airspace in the same way as they use everything else. They play it to the max, and hope that they will not be caught out. Sadly, it seems that the were caught out above Germany last week.
High time that aviation demanded that politicians stood up for their promises, that we demand they do more than make empty promises about the politics of the expedient, and that they look further than the bottom line on the balance sheet.
It's time that they stood for a SAFE system, for a system that will provide space for expansion into the years to come, that will provide a support system for future prosperity and growth. Time to do more than put off the problem until the next government has to handle it.