You're amazingly Heathrow-centric.
degenerating into just a base for Easyjet
I accept that this is because of lack of capacity at Heathrow, but why does Gatwick have new routes started/starting to Hong Kong, Seoul, Beijing, Lagos, Reykjavik and various others all with non-UK (non-Easyjet) airlines? Certainly not just an easyJet base... if you'd have said that before the BAA sale then I wouldn't have been so surprised. But to say that now is somewhat out of touch; you've only got to take a brief glance at Gatwick's present airlines/routes lists to see that it certainly isn't 'just a base for Easyjet'. The current owners wish to transfer it into a gateway to the emerging markets (for wont of a third runway at Heathrow) and so far they seem to be doing a pretty good job of that - not just appeasing Easyjet.