still have a strong tradition of viewing the job as public service. That's not to say that one of 'em won't take what they can get, but when it comes to issues like neonicotinoids, it's not often the manufacturers can buy outside of the Conservative party.

Part of that is also (I suspect) about being a winter country. It helps underline the importance of ensuring the food supply; it doesn't take any imagination to understand how bad it could get during a famine. I think that's a large part of the reason we have far better social supports here generally than in the US too; there is pretty much nowhere in the country that people could live rough all year round, esp. in urban settings.

Sadly, it's that third party that's currently running things at the federal level.