Nothing is said about killing off nine-tenths of the population, which would have to be the first step

I am for scrupulously preserving the most enchanting bits of it [Old England], such as the cathedrals and the colleges and the Cotswolds, and for letting the rest take its chance. There are people who believe that in some mysterious way we can all return to this Old England; though nothing is said about killing off nine-tenths of the population, which would have to be the first step. ... They [the industrial workers] all rushed into the towns and mills as soon as they could, as we know, which suggests that the dear old quaint England they were escaping from could not have been very satisfying. You do not rush our of Arcadia to work in a factory twelve hours a day for about eighteen-pence. Moreover, why did the population increase so rapidly after the industrial revolution? What was it about Merrie England that kept the numbers down?

J.B. Priestley, English Journey (1934), 372-4

There's a long section, of which this is part, about the three Englands Priestley discerns - Old, Industrial, and modern. He's excellent on them all, and I think a very well done archetype of the impetus that gave us the post-war settlement.