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I'm from the UK, and while we do have tipping, it's not expected and is usually given as a sign of good service.
With that said, surely there is a market here for some tech bellend to create an app/service that allows you to put a restaurant name in, get an abridged menu, and to replace the prices with "actual" prices if you consider a living wage tip. Provide some breakdowns of how much money goes to the serving staff, put red flags against businesses that pool/steal tips, and rate businesses that provide value for money.
The culture is bad, but one benefit is that at least the money goes to staff - albeit only often serving staff rather and not BOH staff.
Pooling tips is fine, as long as none of the tip pool goes to management. Tipping out the busboys, and BOH is better for everyone at a high end restaurant. Sure it means as a server I didn't get to keep the entirety of the rare large tip that I got, but it also meant I didn't walk out empty handed when I had a night full of stiffs.
If even $0.001 is going to management, however, that is stealing tips.