Well,is he right ?

Browsing the forum this morning,I noticed this comment :

Great Britain isn’t great any more.

Quite right thought I,since only yesterday I was haranguing Mr. Bee ” Great Britain or United Kingdom ? That’s rich,we’re not great and we’re not united ! “

What really surprised me though,was that the person who’d made the comment was only – wait for it – thirty-six.

Has this country really declined so much in less than forty years ?
If it has,what’s caused it ?

Or is it just that every generation tends to think that things were better in the good old days ?