Simple answers to the question:
We do an aspirational job, therefore people are willing to pay to get into the industry and advance within it.
Europe's major cities in real terms aren't that far apart and the public transport systems aren't too bad, resulting in a fraction of the need for general aviation as there is in the US, Australia and Africa. So less opportunities to serve an apprenticeship and build your career up.
Affluence and demographic of UK pilots would lean towards traditional Tory voters where there's an emphasis on the individual over the whole/collective.
BALPA CC's are effectively franchises, if BA management propose something pretty poor it's unlikely that Virgin, TCX, etc will opt for industrial action in solidarity. Unlike a lot of other industries.
The UK market is open to 27 or so EU members and many, many commonwealth citizens. A citizen of Germany who is a commercial pilot will know English to a decent level because English is the lingua franca of aviation. There's no way due to legislation to give British citizens a head start. No doubt similar situation as in the Premier League. That's not a criticism because we are generally lazy to our continental cousins when it comes to languages, however we are barred to a lot of markets unless we can speak the national lingo.
Last edited by Dreamshiner; 8th Dec 2014 at 11:15.