What in your opinion was the best decade (10 year period) to be living in Britain.[/QUOTE]
Definitely pre-Thatcher, so I'll say 1960s (stretching to the early 1970s). Life was getting better for working class people - improvement in real wage value, better pensions, retirement age coming down, grants for those who qualified for higher education , nationalised industries/ railways, better public services generally, etc. Had a positive knock-on effect into music, art, etc. Quality of life was better and people had a more optimistic view on life generally.
We COULD have that back again if enough people want it - tax the rich!... and scrap the royal family, nuclear power/weapons industries for starters...