The irony of the current situation could possibly only be lost on the politicians who engineered this curent mess. The whole idea of ATS privatisation was to break up state sponsored monopolies which precluded (by their very nature) market incentives, performance benchmarking and flexible access to finance. In theory, sounds wonderful, but the full impact of getting the formula wrong is now becoming apparent. Hopefully even to Mr. T. Blair et al. In the end of the day, access to airspace and international air transport are vital elements in a nation's economic well being. As such, government retains ultimate responsibility for the maintenance of the system. There are occasions where full implementation of market rules is not appropriate. ATS is one such field, IMHO.