Basil
The last time UK was a greast country was before the 1914 war when we were top dog, and UK has slid downhill since. The period post 1945 to 1970 was not a golden era either, just look at the strikes and general unrest and the austerity in 1950,s. In fact it was not until the 1980,s before UK plc started to recover, and all the time we were a memeber of the EU. I live in Germany for part of the week now, and I can tell you the view from here looking back at the UK, and whats going on is embarrassing.
Regards
Mr Mac