[willyt]

That kind of exemplifies a very British problem that we have with very vague and increasingly slow bureaucracy. There’s often no clear cut answer to a question. I think it’s one of the reasons why we get the least amount of productive work done per hour in Western Europe. In our national mythology we think of ourselves as a low bureaucracy country compared to say France, but in actual fact in those countries you will quickly be told no if something is not permitted whereas here there’s a lot of equivocating until, after 6 months of uncertainty you reach a seemingly random semi compromise result.

[paleotrope]

That's an interesting observation.