There have also been budget pressures, disillusionment with an increasingly arbitrary and remote management, and a general deterioration of that old nativism and service ethos that you remember. The failures of old methods and management approaches that have come under criticism have let some of the air out of that old style fervent belief. It’s a harder job than it used to be.

As to the future, I suspect that there are and will always be good, bad and indifferently managed parks no matter whether they are government managed or privately managed. If ICT has a role it is in providing quick and non-suppressible feedback and evaluation of performance.