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Brown as Prime Minister

Brown became the Prime Minister of the UK on 27 June 2007. Like all Prime Ministers. Brown has proposed to give some traditional powers of a Prime Minister to Parliament, such as the power to declare war ,he wants parliament to have the right to ratify treaties and have more oversight into the intelligence services. He has also proposed moving some powers from Parliament to citizens, including the right to form "citizen's juries" and to petition Parliament for new laws.

During his Labour leadership campaign, Brown proposed some policy initiatives:

· End to corruption. Following the cash for honours scandal, Brown emphasised cracking down on corruption.

· Constitutional reform Brown has not stated if he proposes a U.S.-style written constitution – something the UK has never had. He said in a speech that he wants a “better constitution” that is “clear about the rights and responsibilities of being a citizen in Britain today.’ Brown has said he will give Parliament the final say on whether British troops are sent into action in future.

· Housing. House planning restrictions are likely to be relaxed. Brown said he wants to release more land and ease access to ownership with shared equity schemes. He backed a proposal to build five new eco-towns, each housing between 10,000 and 20,000 homeowners — up to 100,000 new homes in total.

· Health. Brown intends to have doctors' surgeries open at the weekends, and GPs on call in the evenings. Brown stated that the NHS was his "top priority", yet he had just cut the capital budget of the English NHS from £6.2bn to £4.2bn.

Foreign policy. Brown remains committed to the Iraq War, but said in a speech in May 2007 that he would "learn the lessons" from the mistakes made in Iraq.

"We will not allow people to separate us from the United States of America in dealing with the common challenges that we face around the world. I think people have got to remember that the relationship between Britain and America and between a British prime minister and an American president is built on the things that we share, the same enduring values about the importance of liberty, opportunity, the dignity of the individual. I will continue to work, as Tony Blair did, very closely with the American administration."


Lecture 3

Population

Plan

Natural growth.

Migration.

Distribution.

Ethnic identity.

Geographic Identity

Being British

Family

Class

 

The people who now inhabit the British Isles are descended mainly from the people who inhabited them nearly 9 cent ago. The English nation was formed as a result of the amalgamation of the native population of the Br. Isles with the invaders.

Located as they are on a group of islands close to Continental Europe, the lands now constituting the United Kingdom have been subject to many invasions and migrations, especially from Scandinavia and the continent, including Roman occupation for several centuries. Present day Britons are descended mainly from the varied ethnic stocks that settled there before the eleventh century. The pre-Celtic, Celtic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Norse influences were blended on Great Britain under the Normans, Scandinavian Vikings who had lived in Northern France. Between the various constituent countries, there has been sufficient internal migration to mix the population.



Today in England, Wales. Scotland and N. Ireland, English is the language predominately spoken. In Wales, however. Welsh, a form of British Celtic, is spoken by some 20 per cent of the population. In Scotland over 80000 people speak the Scottish form of Gaelic A few families in N. Ireland still speak the Irish form of Gaelic

For centuries the British governments promoted the spread of English at the expense of other languages. Moreover, at times it was strictly forbidden to study any of the languages of the minorities living on the British Isles. Today some of the country's ethnic minorities formed as a result of recent immigration have their own languages, normally as well as English.

Censuses of the people have been taken regularly every 10 years since 1801, except that there was no census in 1941 because of the Second World War. It is believed that at the end of the 11th century the population of GB was about 2 mil, while at the end of the 17th century the population was about 6,5 mil. The main factor in this gradual growth of population was a slow natural increase, with high death rates and, in particular, very high infant and maternal mortality.

The most extensive growth of the population of GB took place in the 19th century, when the number pf inhabitants increased from 9 mil to 38 mil.

Annual birth-rates have fallen since the mid - 1960s. The main reason is associated with the social conditions in the country: the growth of unemployment, deterioration of the living standards, social tension, expensive housing.

At the April 2001 UK Census, the United Kingdom's population was 58,789,194, the third-largest in the European Union (behind Germany and France) and the twenty-first largest in the world. This had been estimated up to 59,834,300 by the Office for National Statistics in 2004. Two years later it had increased to 60.2 million, largely from net immigration, but also because of a rising birth rate and increasing life expectancy. Immigration began to play a more important role in population growth more recently.

In number of population GB holds one of the first places among the European countries.

The English make up 4/5 of the total population and they inhabit England proper and many of them live in industrial cities of Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland. The proportion of the Scotsmen, Welshmen and Irishmen is about 15 %. This group includes foreigners, too. The inhabitants of Wales, Scotland and N. Ireland have preserved their culture, originality and languages.

The population of England is and has been for centuries, greater than that of all other parts of Britain (England - 48 mil, Wales - 3 mil, Scotland - 5 mil, N. Ireland -2 mil).

There are about 6 % more male than female births every year. Because of the higher mortality of men at all ages, however, there is a turning point, at about 50 years of age, at which the number of women exceeds the number of men.

 

The country as a whole has a population density of about 233 people to sqr km, in England proper - 363 people to the sqr km, in Wales - 137, in Scotland - 66, in N. Ireland - 112 (1989). Its overall population density is one of the highest in the world.

The most highly populated regions are the industrial districts: South-East England and North- East England. About a quarter of the population lives in England's prosperous south-east and is predominantly urban and suburban, with an estimated 7,517,700 in the capital of London.

2.

Traditionally Britain has a net outflow of people to the rest of the world. During the 100 years, from 1836 to 1936 about 11 mil people left the British Isles. This mass migration especially in the 19th century was a movement of ruined peasants, the unemployed-people who hoped to find new opportunities and happiness on new territories. The immigrants went mainly to North America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, to other lands in Asia and Africa, where they settled, spreading the economic, social, political and cultural influence of GB, as well as the English language, which became the state language of many countries.

There were periods when on the contrary the country experienced a large influx of people.

This was in the 1930s when there was a considerable flow of refugees from continental Europe as a result of fascist persecution, and in the late 1950s and early 1960s mainly the result of a large influx of people from the West Indies and the Indian sub-continent. After the 1950s and in the 1960s considerable numbers of people entered Britain from Commonwealth countries, especially from the West Indies, Asia and Africa and settled permanently in the country. Today in Britain there are sizeable groups of Americans, Australians, Chinese and various European communities such as Greek, Turkish, Italians and Spaniards living in Britain.

As of 2001, 7.9% of the UK's population identified themselves as an 'ethnic minority'. The United Kingdom has amongst the highest immigration rates in Europe, along with Italy and Spain it is now believed that the percentage of 'ethnic minorities' is some 9% of the total UK population. In some UK cities the percentage of 'minority groups' is large but is still less than half, for example; Birmingham (UK's 2nd largest city) has 29.6%, Leicester 36%. The latest figures (for 2004) show a record level of immigration, with net migration to the UK of 223,000.

The latest wave of immigration to hit the UK began in May 2004 when the European Union was expanded. From May 2004 to June 2006, around 600,000 people from Central and Eastern Europe emigrated to the UK to work, although this figure is for arrivals only and therefore does not take account of people leaving, hence net migration is likely to be lower. In 2004 net migration from EU states stood at 74,000. Along with this, there is a large number of Indians, mainly from northern India, which make up about 2.0% of the population.

 

As regards the proportion of urban population Britain probably holds the first place in the world. Over 90 % of its population live in towns. In Britain there are 91 towns with the population of over 100 thousand people. About one third of the country's population is concentrated in the town districts, which comprise numerous merged towns and are called conurbations. They are: Greater London, Central Clydeside, Merseyside, South-East Lancashire, Tyneside, the West Midlands and West Yorkshire.

In general about half the population lives in a belt across England with South Lancashire and west Yorkshire at one end, and the London area at the other, having the industrialized Midlands at its centre.

Other areas with large population are: the central lowlands of Scotland; north-east England from north of the river Tyne down to the river Tees; south-west Wales; the Bristol area; and the English Channel coast from Poole, in Dorset, eastwards. Rural settlements of GB differ from the traditional villages situated in other countries. They are located not far from towns and resemble their suburbs. The 1980s witnessed a steady growth of mass unemployment and deterioration of the living standards of the people. The number of poor people in the country reached about 12 mln.

The most notable trend in the employment pattern during the last years has been the growth of people employed in services. This is a typical feature which is observed in all developed countries.

 

National ('ethnic') loyalties can be strong among the people in Britain whose ancestors were not English. (Scottish, Welsh or Irish) They may even join one of the sporting and social clubs for these nations that promote national folk music, organize parties on special national days and promote doing things differently from the English.

In Scot­land several important aspects of public life are organized and differ­ently from the rest of Britain - education, law and religion. The Scottish way of speaking English is very distinctive. A modern form of the dialect known as Scots has many features which are different from other forms of English and can’t usually be understood by people who aren’t Scottish.

The people of Walesdon’t differ much in everyday life. The organization of public life is similar to that in England. Many people in Wales even don’t consider themselves to be especially Welsh at all. In the 19th century large numbers of Scottish, Irish and English people went to find work there, and today many English people still live in Wales or have holiday houses there. However, there is one important symbol of Welsh identity - the Welsh language. Everybody in Wales can speak English, but it isn’t everybody's first language. For about 20% of the popula­tion (more than half a million people), the mother-tongue is Welsh. Thanks to many campaigns, the language receives a lot of public support. All children in Wales learn it at school there are many local newspapers in Welsh, there is a Welsh television channel and nearly all public notices and signs are written in both Welsh and English.

Most English people usually make no distinction in their minds between 'English' and 'British'. For example, at international football or rugby matches, when the players stand to attention to hear their national anthems, the Scottish, Irish and Welsh have their own songs, while the English one is just 'God Save the Queen' — the same as the British national anthem.

People of Northern Ireland can be divided into 2 groups: Protestants who came from England and Scotland who want to remain in the UK and the native Irish Catholics who want to become a pert of the Irish republic. These groups live separately in different housing estates, listen to different radio and TV programmes, go to different doctors, read different newspapers and so on.

The great wave of immigration from the Caribbean and south Asia took place between 1950 and 1965. These immigrants brought with them different languages, different religions (Hindu and Muslim) and everyday habits and attitudes. As they usually married among themselves, these habits and customs have been preserved.

 

Place of birth is not very important nowadays. People are just too mobile and very few live in the same place all their lives. There is quite a lot of local pride, and people find many opportunities to express it. This pride arises because people are happy to live in what they consider to be a nice place and often when they’re fighting to preserve it.

Nearly everybody has a spoken accent that identifies them as coming from a particular large city or region. In some cases there is quite a strong sense of identification. Liverpudlians (from Liverpool), Man­cunians (from Manchester), Geordies (from the Newcastle area) and Cockneys (from London) are often proud to be known by these names.

Many English people see themselves as either 'northerners' or 'southerners'. The fact that the south is on the whole richer than the north, and the domination of the media by the affairs of London and the south-east, leads to resentment in the north. this reinforces the pride in their northern roots felt by many northerners, who, stereotypically, see themselves as tougher, more honest and warmer-hearted than the soft, hypocritical and unfriendly southerners. To people in the south, the stereotypical northerner (who is usually male) is rather ignorant and uncultured and interested only and beer-drinking

 

British people, although many of them feel proud to be British, aren’t normally actively patriotic. They often feel uncomfortable if, in conversation with somebody from another country, that person refers to 'you' where 'you' means Britain or the British government. They are individualistic and do not like to feel that they are personally representing their country.

During the last quarter of the twentieth century there was a dramatic and severe loss of confidence in British public institutions. Nearly one third of the people questioned in an opinion poll in the early 1990s said that they could think of nothing about Britain to be proud of. In addition, almost half said that they would emigrate if they. This decrease in confidence was accompanied by a change in the previous rather patronizing attitude to foreigners and foreign ways. In the days of empire, foreigners were often con­sidered amusing, even interesting, but not really to be taken seriously. These days, many foreign ways of doing things are admired and there is a greater openness to foreign influences.

Along with this patriotism often takes a rather defensive form. The British keep distinctive ways of doing things, such as driving on the left and using different systems of measurement.

Most British people know remarkably little about Europe and who lives there. They continue to be very bad about learning other peoples' languages. Fluency in any European language other than English is generally regarded as exotic. But there is nothing defensive or deliber­ate about this attitude. The British do not refuse to speak other languages. They are just lazy.

 

In comparison with most other places in the world, family is less important in Britain, especially in England. Families are rather nuclear than extended, except among some racial minorities. It’s unusual for adults of different generations within the family to live together. The average number of people living in each household in Britain is lower than in most other European countries. The proportion of elderly people living alone is similarly high

Significant family events such as weddings, births and funerals aren’t automatically accompanied by large gatherings of people. It is still common to appoint people to certain roles on such occasions, such as 'best man' at a wedding, or godmother and godfather when a child is born. But for most people these appointments don’t imply lifelong responsibility. In fact, family gatherings of any kind beyond the household unit are rare. For most people, they are confined to the Christmas period.

Even the stereotyped nuclear family of father, mother and children is becoming less common. Britain has a higher rate of divorce than anywhere else in Europe except Denmark and the proportion of chil­dren born outside marriage has risen dramatically and is also one of the highest (about a third of all births). However, these trends do not necessarily mean that the nuclear family is disappearing. Divorces have increased, but the majority of marriages in Britain (about 55%) do not break down. In addition, it is notable that about three-quarters of all births outside marriage are officially registered by both parents and more than half of the children concerned are born to parents who are living together at the time.

Family's financial situation is not just the responsibility of the man. But they would still normally complement the woman, not the man, on a beautifully decorated or well-kept house. Everyday care of the children is still seen as mainly the woman's responsibility. Although almost as many women have jobs as men, nearly half of the jobs done by women are part-time. In fact, the majority of mothers with children under the age of 12 either have no job or work only during school hours. Men certainly take a more active domestic role than they did 40 years ago. Some things, however, never seem to change. A comparison of child-rearing habits of the 1960s and the 1980s showed that the proportion of men who never changed a baby's nappy had remained the same (40%)!

At the public level there are contradictions. Britain was one of the first European countries to have a woman Prime Minister and a woman chairperson of debate in its Parliament. However, in the early nineties, only about 5% of MPs were women, only 20% of lawyers in Britain were women, less than 10% of accountants were women and there was one female consultant brain surgeon in the whole country.

At the 1997 election the proportion of women MPs increased sharply (to 18%) and nearly every institution in the country has opened its doors to women now. One of the last to do so was the Anglican Church, which, after much debate, decided in favour the ordination of women priests in 1993. However, there are a few institutions which, at the time of writing, still don't accept female members - for example, the Oxford and Cambridge Club in London, an association for graduates of these two universities.

 

Historians say that the class system has survived in Britain because of its flexibility. It has always been possible to buy or marry or even work your way up, so that your children (and their children) belong to a higher social class than you do. As a result, the class system has never been swept away by a revolution.

People in modern Britain are very conscious of class differences. They regard it as difficult to become friends with somebody from a different class. Although most people say they do not approve of class divisions, different classes have different sets of attitudes and daily habits: they eat different food at different times of day, they like to talk about different topics using different styles and accents of English, they enjoy different pastimes and sports, they have different values about what things in life aremost important and different ideas about the correct way to behave, they go to different kinds of school.

An interesting feature of the class structure in Britain is that it is not just, or even mainly, relative wealth or the appearance of it which determines someone's class. Of course, wealth is part of it - if you become wealthy, you can provide the conditions to enable your children to belong to a higher class than you do. But it is not always possible to guess reliably the class to which a person belongs by looking at his or her clothes, car or bank balance. The most obvious and immediate sign comes when a person opens his or her mouth giving the listener clues to the speaker's attitudes and interests, both of which are indicative of class.

But even more indicative than what the speaker says is the way that he or she says it. The English grammar and vocabulary which is used in public speaking, radio and television news broadcasts, books and newspapers and also - unless the lessons are run by Americans - as a model for learners of English as a foreign language; is known as 'standard British English'. Most working-class people, however, use lots of words and grammatical forms in their every day speech which are regarded as 'non-standard'.

Nevertheless, nearly everybody in the country is capable of using standard English (or something very close to it) when they judge that the situation demands it. They are taught to do so at school. The most prestigious accent in Britain is known as "Received Pronunciation" RP. - English spoken with an RP accent , 'BBC English' or 'Oxford English' or 'the Queen's English'.

Working-class people in particular are traditionally proud of their class membership and would not usually wish to be thought of as belonging to any other class. Interestingly, a survey conducted in the early 1990s showed that the proportion of people who describe themselves as working class is actually greater than the proportion whom sociologists would classify as such! This is one manifestation of a phenomenon known as 'inverted snobbery', whereby middle-class people try to adopt working-class values and habits. They do this in the belief that the working classes are in some way ' better' (for example, more honest) than the middle classes.

In general, the different classes mix more readily and easily with each other than they used to. There has been a great increase in the number of people from working-class origins who are house owners and who do traditionally middle-class jobs.


Lecture 4


Date: 2015-12-24; view: 807


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