JOE-FBS is perhaps not portraying quite accurately the UK. The Daily Mail newspaper is indeed very popular and the sales reflect that popularity in the UK so there are clearly very many people who agree with the stance of the Daily Mail. BTW I buy no newspaper at all. As for subsidising a "hobby" well why not? Football, Cricket, Swimming, Cycling, etc etc are very heavily subsidised and if you take football for example the subsidies from council taxpayers alone would keep many small airfields open for years. An airfield cannot just be created anywhere and eveyone we lose affects the whole infrastructre and can never be re-created.