I believe in England they have a (incredibly rarely used) veto power over parliament but that's it.

The monarch has more power in the UK then you'd think, but a lot of it is not exercised because recent monarchs know it wouldn't sit right in a democracy.

I won't list all of the King's powers as others have already gone into more detail, but one I find interesting is the King's ability to call (or not call) an election. There is theoretically a precedent where the King is suppose to reject a prime minister's request for an election if there is still a functioning parliament. So in the present context, if Keir Starmer were to ask for an election today, the King is supposed to reject it on the basis that Keir Starmer has a strong majority, and still comfortably retains parliament's confidence. But if the King ever felt like he had to exercise this power, it would put him in a very uncomfortable position, and people would be willing to criticise him for whichever move he made, and then perhaps wonder why an unelected hereditary monarch is the one making this decision...

For more detail: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lascelles_Principles

Unsure how coordinating all the different privat bus networks would go but definitely something the government should prioritise too.

Yeah having multiple private bus networks is an issue even without transferring from a train. I heard from a colleague from Manchester that before nationalisation, sometimes you'd have to buy two separate bus passes if your commute involved two separate bus companies. Now the system there is so much more simplified.

The third option seems appropriate. After installing McAfee, my PC got infected by McAfee :P

One example I have is the university breaking their VPN on Linux. They moved us from an open source VPN to some proprietary crap but I found an open source client that worked on Linux. Then they did something on the config that broke that client, and IT told me to use the proprietary client instead. But the proprietary client crashes if you even so much move the window slightly. So I gave up, and just use my Windows partition instead.

Stuff like this is why my Windows partition still exists. I've also thought about getting a cheap Mac Mini for this sort of thing, and for dealing with the MS Office suite when the web version craps out (as it often does).

A lot of the TOCs were already under national control. But the problem is with the system in general; its just broken. You cite ticket pricing as one insanity, but I also hate how poorly connected buses, and trains are. I wish we had a unified ticketing system so I could get a monthly pass to cover both train, and bus.

For example, I'm lucky I can get a direct bus to work. But if I didn't, I'd have to get a bus to the train station, then to train to a town close to work, then another bus. Now I have to pay for a train season ticket (which costs an absolute fortune), and a monthly bus pass.

Or I could get a car. I'm very reluctant too but public transport is so broken in the UK that I often think it would be so much easier.

The problem we have is trying to get our friends to jump ship to a new alternative. Pretty much any barrier, even small, prevents people from doing this because they already have a working app that does what they need.