Funnily enough my perspective might differ from those who live in a Derbyshire village or a Welsh forest.
My views are no less valid but I like to have a few facts to get a bit closer to the truth, which usually lies somewhere in between.
The OP got a hard time for his light hearted view of the loss of common sense. Not untypical with todays cancel culture.
Resorting to 8 front pages of a low circulation paper ( still 1.5 times higher than the Guardian though) is somewhat feeble, along with anecdotes of Derbyshire utopia. Not enough I'm afraid to determine the state of the nation and the experience of people across the country, many of whom brought a landslide victory for the Tories. I can see why that might grind your gears but it's not just caused by Daily Express headlines. No one was good enough to earn my vote BTW.
Rather than just spout opinions and anecdotes I've provided links to data to help either back up, or challenge viewpoints. Boils down to arguably how big or small 4.8% is. But at least we've got some facts instead of headlines to back up our differing views.
Living in East London since 1987 I've seen a lot of change and I can provide countless anecdotes good and bad. Most people I come across are good.
I guessing what you're or the record I managed very diverse teams. They liked me because they knew I had their backs and I'd die in a ditch for them.
You sometimes need to keep the safety on your scatter gun.
Finally, I agree with the OP - Common Sense is indeed appear to be dead.