[user104658]

LT half of the things you have listed are mostly or entirely privatised... they're not government / public services . Get your head out of the 1980's man!



Courts

Couldn't say TBH I have no experience of the courts system


Electricity

Privatised and comparatively expensive


Education, [e.g. state (public) schools, public universities, etc...]

Pretty much a shambles, massively under-funded in recent years, miserable staff and constant cuts.


Emergency services, (e.g. Fire, EMS, Law Enforcement, Search and Rescue, etc...)

Suffering and under-funded, lots of strike action, not an attractive or competitive career path



Environmental protection





Health care (NHS)

Needs it's own thread tbqfh. I see a lot of people saying that it's fine because they;ve had recent good experiences with the NHS. This is entirely thanks to staff who are very committed to taking good care of their patients. It IS on it's knees. Staff are under insane amounts of pressure and things are getting worse. The fact that in most services, the staff manage to shield the public from the huge problems that the NHS is facing due to systematic and deliberate under-funding, is a credit to them. In some service areas things are genuinely horrendous for both staff and patients.

Military

Bigger than it needs to be and in my opinion, in need of systematic modernisation and a departure from Monarchy-Empire-based tradition.


Postal service

No longer a public service


Public bank

Improving since recession but mostly privatised?


Public broadcasting

Kill it with fire tbh.

Public library

Do they even still exist?


Public security

Non-police security is almost entirely privatised.


Public transportation

Mostly privatised, also shameful and getting worse, with cuts to councils meaning that local bus services (which were often subsidised) in many areas are all but non-existent at this point. Long train journeys, the trains can be decent quality. Commuter trains and pretty much all buses are clapped out and disgusting.

Social services, (e.g. public housing, social welfare, food subsidies, etc...)

Another one that needs it's own thread. The situation with social services in almost all areas of the UK isn't just bad... it's criminal / corrupt. Welfare to be honest isn't AWFUL and could so easily be mostly fixed with a few tweaks and less focus on punitive measures and cuts to the disabled. Universal Credit was a great system on paper but the implementation was incompetent to the point of disaster and is still in a huge mess.


Telecommunications

Again LT... Not a public service, telecoms is private. [edited to add] In this case I'm not saying that's a bad thing: telecoms is actually fairly decent (compared to most countries) and also is improving. It's also well priced in recent years, especially mobile telecoms, where most of the cost is basically the handset and if you go sim-only you can get unlimited everything practically free . If anything, BT's monopoly needs to CONTINUE to be dismantled. You could argue that other countries have better / faster cabled infrastructure HOWEVER - I personally think making massive upgrades there is a waste of time and money because super-fast broadband is eventually going to go completely over-the-air and cabled networking will be redundant.

Urban planning




Transportation infrastructure (roads etc)

Sliding, badly. Also very selective. If you live in an affluent / high council tax area councils bend over backwards to ensure the roads are decent. My village is one, the roads are immaculate... can't have all of the rich folks moving away because they keep damaging their landrovers after all. 7 miles down the road in the less-affluent villages? Actual footage of a bus avoiding a pothole:




There are also constant issues on the motorways.



Waste management, (e.g. wastewater, solid waste, recycling, etc...)

The sewerage and water systems are extensive and generally very well run, to be fair. Recycling facilities are decent, although apparently most of it is just getting dumped anyway . General household waste though? Getting worse and worse, we're down to 3-weekly here and possibly going to monthly. In the summer the problems with vermin / wasps / flies (and maggots) / smell are horrendous.

Water supply network

See above re: water and sewerage