Ask most English people what day is St Patricks Day and they will tell you 17th march Ask most English people what day is St Georges Day they don't know! ( Unless it's on FB ) Top of the morning to you all
That's because the English have stopped caring a fook about the country and there are various reasons why!
A FEW reasons: Domination by a self-interested political party (Tories) for the last 14 years; Declining living standards due to austerity and now lower than they were 17 years ago; High levels of taxation; Declining services (e.g. NHS, Police) caused by austerity; Breakdown in law and order (see above) where, for example, unless a shop theft is more than 200 quid the police will show no interest and yobs dominate too many areas (whatever happened to the birch?); Over-burdened by debt but government policies fuelling the debt! Poor manufacturing base due to failure to use technology and thus low productivity; It relied on being a great financial centre but that has rapidly declined; Over-population caused my more IN than OUT - and those coming in illegally are given assistance!; Immigrants often given more rights than UK citizens; Unwillingness to work - now 20% of the population don't want to work - thus increasing the burden of benefit costs and fuelling immigration (they are even giving jobs to illegal immigrants); If London is not included then the UK is about the poorest country in Europe; Dreadful weather! Some other countries in the West share these issues and so I am fairly sure the whole West, or most of it, is also on life support.
The sad truth being there is little incentive for some people to go to work as they would still be unable to to pay their way! My neighbours daughter who has a good job together with her husband also, they are paying £2,200 a month for a mortgage, which is beyond most peoples ability to afford. The Government is not building enough affordable housing, hence private landlords are charging ridiculous amounts for renters while only those with a good income can afford live in a decent area or to purchase a mortgaged property. All types of crime figures are up as you mentioned, youngsters today have no fear of the Police as recent events have shown of murders committed by people " Too young to be named" but older enough to take away a person's life! .......Anarchy Rules Britannia, well almost! not to mention the weather. Just when I was having a good day ....but keep up the faith.
You lost me after first mentioning austerity as a government policy twice (which I interpret as the government trying to diminish their expenses), then mentioning high taxes (which I understand as the government trying to increase their income), and then saying government policies have been fuelling the nation's debt. You can't have your pudding and eat it, either the nation's debt is overburdening and then austerity and high taxes are needed, or austerity and high taxes are bad but then rising debt should be fine.
I cannot repeat everything I have read about the disastrous effects of austerity on the UK - and I think hardly any expert disagrees. So read this: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/mar/03/lost-decade-hidden-story-how-austerity-broke-britain That is just one article I picked out from thousands and selected a newspaper that has non-extreme views. High debt is currently working for some countries as they run the currency printing presses hot but the time will come when they will suffer a major crash and that time is not too far away. Again, read this (as one of many articles on the dangers): https://www.worldbank.org/en/research/publication/waves-of-debt Not only does national debt ruin countries as it increases interest paid by governments but personal debt decreases consumer spending and the UK is doing everything it can to saddle people with personal debt through housing costs - and, IMO, unnecessarily so. Anyone who thinks the World, especially the West, is on the right financial path has a rude awakening around the corner.