Let's be really shallow. I judge it by the roads. We've lived here for nearly 40 years.
From 1986 to 1997 the roads got progressively worse, the drains blocked, I often could only get home from work because I had a Citroën BX and could pump the suspension up to get through the floods caused by blocked culverts.
After 1997, the roads were repaired (even though it was often with the kind of new road surface that was criticised for being too flat, oily and accidentogène in a Radio 4 programme), and the ditches and drains cleared.
By 2010, the roads were ok.
I've never seen them so bad now, to the extent that in the dark or rain, I hesitate to go out; you just can't see where the danger lies.
When the public realm degenerates to such an extent, it affects everything. I make no wonder people are depressed and pissed off. They know they're being taken for fools.
My only comfort is that a couple of years ago, Jenrick had to call a local taxi late at night to get him to his posh pile in Eye, near Leominster because he'd blown two tyres on the A456 in Little Hereford, near the junction with the A49.
Karma.
The roads: it's the most visible metric, at least for those of us living in the country.
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