Why do you only deal in binary opposites? Why is something either jolly olde England of yore, or some kind of apolocyptic wasteland. Truth is it’s neither of these things. I’m wary of yearning for some halcyon days that never existed. Some of Orwell’s descriptions in ‘the road to Wigan pier’ could easily be passed off as today if you didn’t know the context.
Are things brilliant? No, and they never have been.
Are things mind-numbingly awful? No, and they never will be
but the fact remains that society in England has got a lot worse and the disregard for life and property has grown.