There's no lack of money in this country, there is just massively unfair distribution of it. That the railway is left begging for money and having to interfere with the passenger experience by renting space out to advertisers on that kind of scale is definitely not ok in my view. Its not about living in the past, its about wanting better.
Well, there is quite a long history of commercial advertising on stations. W H Smith & Son used to organise it for several railway companies, going back to the 1860s, alongside their newspaper kiosk business.
As for the Euston boards, I have to say from a personal perspective that I found the previous board quite hard to read unless I was standing immediately in front of the relevant column. Obviously this would sidle across the board to the left as the departure time approached, still without the platform being revealed. It was often difficult to move to the left because of all the other waiting passengers.
The new boards seem to suit my Specsavers' varifocals and neck muscles admirably. I commonly approach Euston from the Euston Square direction, glance at the new West-facing board and gain an immediate impression of how things are running before popping to Sainsbury's to lay in supplies for the journey (or not, if there's an imminent suitable departure). Works for me.
I agree that suitable information provision also needs to be made for intending passengers waiting on the mezzanine but rarely go up there myself. With my regular route being to Stockport or Manchester, with a frequent service, I'm rarely hanging around for very long.