There used to be a culture of subversion and challenge with the unions, but the British - like the most aggressively independent and ¨individualistic¨ Americans - are basically timid but angry conformists.

You won't find much direct confrontation or challenge in the workplace, but you will find epidemic levels of passive aggression and sullen incompetence.

very true...

ThatBritGuy:

The UK could become a very interesting place if someone like that appeared - like a Brtish Obama, but for real.

i wonder if that's true of anywhere on the planet...  

ThatBritGuy:

Britain hasn't had a positive image to aspire to since the end of the 50s

don't forget beatlemania, albion's last enduring global image success story!

the positive, paternal image got upsided then, but brits still knew how to have irreverent fun.

watching that spirit of freedom turned into a fashion industry has been a heartbreaking hallmark of the late 60's onward and downward spiral of brit kulcha, now mostly a sorry parody, except of course what's under the msm radar, still innovative and real, vital and edgy.

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty