411A, instead of making mine's better than yours one liner statements why don't you elaborate? Speaking from personal experience of flying widebody jets into the US over several years I can always expect to be told to descend long before the ideal TOD point. More often than not I can expect to fly the last several hundered miles well below any optimum level which is extremely inefficient. Could that be something to do with the state of US ATC?
I hear this criticism from many US pilots as well so please don't try your usual derogatory put down of all matters of aviation that are non US orientated. For once just try and explain your point, not forgetting that Europe is a continent made up of many different countries and not one country under a single federal government. The UK in particular has some of the most densely used airspace due to its geography and the controllers, the people at the pointy end do one of the best jobs of any ATC I have had to experience. Considering that the current problems being discussed are due to poor management and planning, NOT anything to do with the actual controllers, you may want to try using a bit more grammar when making your ascerbic comments. Readers who may not be familiar with your 'style' would then at least be better able to decide whether you were having a go at the controllers or the management.