The problem with sensationalist articles is that any reporter can complain about the state of something, but it takes a brilliant one to offer a viable solution. Quite obviously the reporter who wrote the original article was just bashing for the sake of bashing.
Both Poggy and JTD Stilo are right in pointing out that it's easy to pick one or two factors that make other countries seem better than ours, but you need to see the WHOLE picture to make a truly balanced judgement.
For instance, (not factual, just hypothetical), Iraq might have much lower income tax rates than the UK, along with cheaper costs of living. It might even have cheaper car insurance and road tax. But you have to offset this with a lower standard of living, poor roads and public facilities, higher crime rate, religious extremism, terrorism and also a country on the brink of civil war. I know it's an extreme hypothesis, but the grass suddenly doesn't seem that much greener now.
In any debate like this, I want to see a potential solution not just a whinge! So if our country is so bad, which other country outweighs our standards overall and how has this been achieved? There's a challenge for those that complain about the state of the UK!
And as for the newspapers, Daily Fascist sums up most of them! They are all biased one way or another, with the exception of perhaps the Independant or the Guardian, and most rely on sensationalist headlines/ stories to grab attention. Plus more importantly, these sensationalist stories SELL newspapers, as at the end of the day they are business commodities out to make money, and a screaming headline with outlandish reporting will do that!
I prefer to watch a selection of news bulletins on TV to get a more balanced view, though even some of those can show bias. For the tabloids though, the best use I have found for them is to use them for wrapping up my dog's poop when I clean our garden
