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I would also do the same, and also add that the UK is a dying economy that doesn't produce great statesmen or have much in the way of political will.
British food does not deserve the reputation it gets, but it got that reputation on top of wartime rationing because British used to take a quiet pride in maintaining a stiff upper lip at things being shit and being grateful for what they're given. Then people figured out that this allowed them to get away with much worse because the poor fuckers were too polite to complain, and it was a sliding scale ever since. A Frenchman will complain if the wine pairing is wrong, an Italian will bitch that he can make the food better.
It took me a longer time to understand that this applies to British government as well. It's endemic in the EU, but much of the populace exists under a near perpetual state of learned helplessness, and if they act out, they know they are venting their frustration in a non-productive way. Americans are the opposite - many of them come across as naive and crazy to me, but they genuinely believe even destructive venting of their frustration has a positive effect. Storming the capitol on June 6 accomplished nothing and was never going to, but the irony of it all was that for a very brief moment, both the people storming the capitol and the people outraged that the capitol got stormed actually thought there was a chance it might. Similarly, BLM, #metoo, Occupy, etc.
Technological employment is shot in the entire EU and will never change. Their blind stabs at attempting to have a Silicon Valley for themselves will come to nothing; they pat themselves on the back over a few million dollars here and there in a technology fund when Meta misplaces that amount on whatever dumb initiative they're workshopping internally every Tuesday.
Also that Britain (alongside Belgium and the Netherlands, which do not exactly have a reputation for fine dining) industrialised and urbanised before refrigeration, which means that we went through a long period where most of the population did not have access to fresh food.
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