Many people in the UK cant really be bothered to do anything anymore and the whole place is under a kind of drug induced malaise, possibly because after the whole Empire malarky, most potential projects seem relatively futile and unambitious.

So only the people at the bottom and the top take any interest in politics or industry really. To be honest I think it is a miracle the place manages to run at all, our three biggest industries being finance, then betting on house prices, and third being arms manufacture and export. Ordinary manufacture is sixth in that list, yet pays more tax than the finance industry, last time I checked.