So what in the UK DOES work really well? I can't think of much!

[QueenofTheBorg]

HMRC are turning their phones off in a minute
The roads are a state almost everywhere
The NHS is underfunded and broken
Schools are crumbling, there aren't enough teachers, unsurprisingly
Railways and a lot of public transport doesn't work well
Councils are able to go bankrupt, I'm not sure how or why
Shoplifting is rarely prosecuted
Rape is pretty much a non crime, the prosecution rate is so low
The police are misogynistic and don't respond to many crimes (shoplifting for eg)
Food prices are ridiculous, as are petrol prices
The cost of living crisis has affected millions
Interest rates mean lots of people can't afford their houses
There are strikes left right and centre
Prisons are nearly full
Courts are backlogged by cases anyway
There's not enough support for anyone with mental health issues

Nothing seems to work does it?

Or are there some things that work amazingly well in the UK? If so, what?

Is this years of Tory underinvestment in infrastructure? Some of this I think is due to the Ukraine war but not all of it. What do you think?

1. Historical buildings and antiquities (yes you have to pay high entrance fees for some but literally hundreds are free)
2. Natural beauty, especially coastline and clifftops
3. Being self deprecating, and non-braggy. 4. Pop music
4. TV and film industry
5. Going for a walk after lunch
6. Being pretty vigilant about public campaigns like road crossing, no littering, school streets

Sadly all the things the OP listed as negative are also true. Wish there was
more sense of reward for hard work and national and personal pride.

Oh and yes agree with a few more above like brewing (ale and cider), pubs (nowhere else does pubs as well as old English cities) and fish n chips.

To be fair, even having the NHS as an option is bloody good.

Yes we do a nice line in ruined castles

@haveyoutriedturningitoffandonagain 🤣🤣

Free museums.

Aviation.

World leading safety standards plus ferocious competition between airlines means that flying from & within the U.K. is both very affordable & very safe. Airports are sometimes overcrowded at peak times, but that’s inevitable when flying becomes something almost everyone can afford.

As for food, we all know there has been significant inflation in the last couple of years but, if you think food in the U.K. is expensive, I have two words for you : Try France.

Parks - thankfully most are well maintained and haven't been built over...yet

I've got an amazing GP practice & medical care but know that's not universal.

You are joking?
They shut down in Covid which fair enough they had to, but if you had bought a year’s membership you basically just lost most of it.
My disabled dc attended an event and was badly treated. I phoned and emailed numerous times and after about four months they basically said tough shit nothing to do with us.
They seem to spend endless amounts of money chasing ‘diverse’ visitors and ignoring their actual members.
They seem to want to change/rewrite history through a prism of modern views.

Driving licence and passport servics seem to have been sorted out? I've had to renew both this year and both came back quick smart, less than a week.

We have pockets of really excellent, world-leading scientists of all kinds whose unsexiest work makes a difference. The trouble is it's not easy to explain why some small move forward here makes a different ten or twenty years down the line after more work has been done. Nevertheless, it continues, despite the deliberate underfunding and restructuring of university departments.

Queues?

paediatric nhs seems to work well -
my son just had major surgery and everything ran super smoothly. They told us he was not urgent on the waitlist yet he had his operation within 6 weeks of going on surgery list. Really much smoother than I could have imagined

This is true. We do excellent science

Was just about to pack too!

Children's book publishing, especially picture books

Gov gateway is actually marvellous imo. In the last 12 months I’ve had to do renew 3 passports, a dbs check, checked pension for me and dh , renewed 4 x ghic cards and it all went seemlessly and quick and efficient. I was v impressed.
passports in particular took about 5 days ( just renewals not first time)
kids school is great and the public transport I use daily ( tube) is also v good plus sun is shining , blossom on trees and tulips about to bloom. I love England in the spring!

The daffs in Yorkshire are looking amazing.

A lot tend to close at 5pm though. Utterly bloody ridiculous when that's the time you fancy afternoon tea!

Careful, if you let the Tories know what is still working they'll slash their budget before they go to election and/or asset strip it.

I'm surprised someone said aviation - all of the issues with runways, the shut down for safety when that drone happened, the traffic control staff all being run ragged, the lack of water scanners which most other countries have had in place for years...

We're really good at thinking we can get more for our money - see Brexit - then getting the neighbours dodgy cousin in to complete the work because he got a NVQ in something similar once, possibly. He seems a nice chap, reminds us of Boris. What could go wrong?

I'd say universities but having seen the recent news Chinese students are changing the syllabus due to their sensitivities, that's probably going to be short lived.

Organics - the guidelines and legislation

Food labelling has improved exponentially, plus awareness of what shite UPF ingredients are in our food, so you can avoid or substitute with healthier options.

university education

David Austin roses

Consumer Rights

Discrimination viz à viz employment law, it's difficult to dodge because it's clear and precise what constitutes discrimination.

Pharmaceutical research - the C19 Vx started here and was distributed very efficiently thanks to our Army's logistical expertise.

UK Armed Forces - they protect our country and provide humanitarian aid, often in the most dire circumstances.

our renewable energy technologies (wind, water, sun) are getting increasingly sophisticated.

I think affordability depends on where you live. My parents are in south west wales. There is one international airport in the whole of Wales, so they’re closer to it than many. Cardiff airport is about 80 miles away from them, it doesn’t fly everywhere. Their other option is Bristol, where so many flights depart at around 6-8am, which means they have to travel there (100+ miles), stay somewhere the night before, travel back when they land etc. It adds lots to the price of air travel.

Whereas I live in the south east and have Gatwick and City within an hour’s drive.

@MyFavouritePlace
Oh no, really? I'm about to try to do this for my mum.

Reality TV shows. There's hundreds of the bastards.

Ditto cookery programmes.

Ditto antiques programmes.

Rain, drizzle, mizzle and general cold and dampness.

Tea making and drinking.

Gossiping.

Whingeing.

Lawn mowing.

Crufts.

Horse Racing.

Football.

Wimbledon.

Rugby.

Darts.

Snooker.

Botanical Gardens.

Attention seeking / vaguebooking.

Car boot sales.

Cheese making.

Pasty making.

Beer brewing and drinking.

Ditto Gin.

Afternoon tea.

Automobile / Aeroplane engineering.

Pharmaceuticals.

History. Particularly literary.

Sunday dinners.

Stiff upper lips

@Thewildthingsarewithme shhhh or they'll all be over here! I love NI, it's a great place to live in the main. Although our politics are shite and fairly alien to the rest of the UK 😂