is the uk really burning like all the bad news are reporting?
The council of Birmingham (biggest in the UK) just went bankrupt today. Liverpool is also totally gutted with poverty and no real employment or investment, and has had its council put on special measures for the past couple of years due to widespread corruption. Place is a bit of a shit show. It's just London and minor areas now, barely even a country. Only hope is to become even more of a financial rogue state and channel more of the world's dirty money.
2) I'm not sure really any of them could be considered as "similar" enough to properly compare, even though they all now run on neoliberalism and free-market economies.
2a) if you compare it to Australia which really is similar in terms of mindset as a former colony, the UK is a sh*tshow. But Australia has endless mineral wealth to dig out of the ground and a large amount of primary economy like farming, which the UK doesn't have. It's more egalitarian, better wages, better opportunity, better chance to do what you want and be successful, all based on a British foundation. The UK has just crumbled outside of London and the south. People had money and kept it, those that didn't, still don't and it's hard to get it.