>>>The grants were whittled away by Thatcher and Major after my time (for which I severely resented them), by freezing, then it ALL went with Blair.
>>>
>>>I really feel that I was part of the never-had-it-so-good generation.
>>
>>From a personal POV, sure. But England had to adapt to financial reality. With a tax rate that high it was impossible to remain competitive in a global market. Some of the Scandinavian countries still haven't quite figured that out, and become more and more marginalized in the world economy.
>
>Depends on what you want, as a country, whether your goal is that your people live better, to be in the top 10 by some criteria (such as BNP, debt, military spending).
>
>Is Scandinavia becoming poor? I very much doubt that. But then they are among the top 10 in percentage of their energy coming from alternate sources, and in energy conservation. To me, that's a much harder goal to achieve, than to have the largest in the neighborhood.

and Finland seem to be doing OK - what with their burgeoning super-cruise liner industry, bespoke steel manufacture and ... and ... reindeer meat? :-)