I dont have to go to any of those places to see that Britain is wonderful

I, for one, couldn't argue with that. The OP's question is too abstruse to have a definitive answer other than it depends.

A better question would have been is the UK on the decline ( or on the way up ), and even then you'd have to decide what it was declining from and when. Which would leave us with too many questions each with too many answers, other than it depends.

An article on the decline of workers salaries..........

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/p...a-century.html

Our union is currently in the middle of industrial action because our salaries have experienced an effective 13% decline in the past 5 years. I feel a bit ambiguous about it all as we are supposed to be sharing the pain and wage increases will only fuel inflation.

Mind you, our senior management have given themselves two-figure salary increases on a regular basis each year so some people are doing just fine.

The, " We're all in this together.", sound bite was probably one of the most laughable quotes from any politician I've ever heard.

Are managers in the public sector allowed to dictate their own salary increases? are they not answerable to a governing body?

The income gap seems to grow wider and wider as time goes by.

If we accept that crime is falling then my theory is that it is a positive from the internet e.g. teenagers are playing games online rather than hanging about on street corners.
I always know where my kids are i.e. at school or in the bedroom on-line.

Even funnier than "No More Boom and Bust"?

I'll give you that.

Makes you wonder if we're being led by donkeys or the dumbing down of the voters has moved up a notch................. or both.

Don't you live in a Herefordshire village where there is no grafitti, little or no crime, and the big bad world (which most of us experience) has passed you by?

Why don't you move somewhere like that then?

Where I lived in Derbyshire was similar and my base in England now is as well.

If all of us lived in villages, they would become towns and cities. But not everyone wants to live in villages no matter how rural and tranquil they are. All I am saying is that village life doesn't reflect what most people experience.

But it reflects what people like Chris and myself experience. If you choose to live where you live then you have to accept what goes with that.....and that applies wherever you are in the world.

can someone describe a typical 'British Village' of 2014?

My impression of one is like the one in 'Heartbeat' TV series - with a few cottages & a high Street that is no more than 100 yards long, population of 50 people, one pub, one church, local shop/post office, a one room brick school house, one constable, a doctor that works out of their house, ye olde red telephone box, several speed bumps and a 'watch for sheep crossing' sign.

No bus or train service with the nearest supermarket is 10 miles away

I don't know where this idea of 'village' has come from

Where I lived in Derbyshire has a population of over 5000. Where my son lives in Cambridgeshire has a population of over 15000. So they are hardly small and yet both are safe, quiet and mostly crime fee.
Places like that exist all over the Uk but the doomsayers prefer to focus on the problems in inner cities.....problems which exist in cities worldwide.

...... and Postman Pat and his black and white cat.

Brought a wry smile when the Joss Stone murder attempted was thwarted by the public. One of the quotes about the downfall of the would be perpetrators was, " We don't see people like that around here." < best said with a West Country accent. >

What's the crime like in Florida Bud?

....and the public health service?