III. Read the following expressions to make sure that you can use them correctly

a) to have (no) effect on smth

to be unaffected

to transfer power to smb

to excel in smth (to e. in the qualities of moderation and tolerance)

to reinforce smth (to be reinforced by smth)

to cross streets against red lights

to harass smb

to maintain the welfare state

to impose smth on smb (to i. heavy taxes on the rich)

to give priority to smth

to be overtaken by smb

to attribute smth to smth

to pursue smb’s interests

to reverse smth (to r. the trends of the previous decades)

to reduce trade union power

to revive smth (to r. the free enterprise economy)

to share in smth (to sh.in the new prosperity)

to liberalise one's outlook

to restrict expenditure for social purposes

to cut smth

to oblige smb to do

to be dominated by smb

to be rich in smth

to adapt oneself to smth

to be remarkable for smth

to be noted for smth

to live on one’s own

to have a new interest in smth

b) a great deal of variety

devolution

a descendant

monarchy (hereditary, constitutional)

an advance towards equality

qualities of moderation and tolerance

welfare state

a national failure

belligerence (a tendency toward b.)

a tendency to moderation

excessive concentration of cultural life a stratified society

undulating country

a rich architectural heritage

a great industrial belt

an increase in smth

service industries

racial tolerance

integrated society

second-hand information

THE UNITED KINGDOM

INTRODUCTION

The United Kingdom is very small compared with many other countries in the world. However, there are only nine other countries with more people, and London is the world’s seventh biggest city. The main areas of high land are in Scotland, Wales and Cumbria. In the centre of England is a range of hills called the Pennines, which are also known as the backbone of England. The highest mountains are in Scotland and Wales: Ben Nevis is 4,406 feet (1,343 m.) and Snowdon is 3,560 feet (1,085 m.). Of course, these are very small compared with other mountains in the world— Everest, the highest mountain in the world, is 29,000 feet (8,839 m.). In fact everything in the Un­ited Kingdom is rather small — the longest rivers are the Sev­ern (220 miles, 354 km.) and the River Thames (215 miles, 346 km.). Compare these with the River Amazon in South America which is 4,195 miles (6,751 km.) long.

Despite its size, there is a great deal of variety within the islands of the United Kingdom, and this material aims to show the particular character of each country and region.

Who are the British? Why British not English?

Many foreigners say England and English when they mean Britain, or the UK, and British. This is very annoying for the 5 million people who live in Scotland, the 2.8 million in Wales and 1.5 million in Northern Ireland who are certainly not English. (46 million people live in England.) However, the people from Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England are all British So what is the difference between the names Great Britain and the United Kingdom — and what about the British Isles?

THE UNITED KINGDOM

This is an abbreviation of ’the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is often further abbreviated to

’UK’, and is the political name of the country which is made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (sometimes known as Ulster). Several islands off the British coast are also part of the United Kingdom (for example, the Isle of Wight, the Ork­neys, Hebrides and Shetlands, and the Isles of Scilly), al­though the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are not. However, all these islands do recognize the Queen

Great Britain

This is the name of the island which is made up of England, Scotland and Wales and so, strictly speaking, it does not in­clude Northern Ireland. The origin of the word ’Great’ is a re­ference to size, because in many European languages the words for Britain and B_rittany in Prance are the same. In fact, it was the French who first talked about Grande Bretagne! In eve­ryday speech ’Britain’ is used to mean the United Kingdom.

The British Isles

This is the geographical name that refers to all the islands off the north west coast of the European continent: Great Bri­tain, the whole of Ireland (Northern and Southern), the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

But it is important to remember that Southern Ireland — that is the Republic of Ireland (also called ’Eire») — is completely independent.

So you can see that ’The United Kingdom’ is the correct name to use if you are referring to the country in a political, rather than in a geographical way. ‘British’ refers to people from the UK,Great Britain or the British Isles in general.

How was the United Kingdom formed? This took centuries, and a lot of armed struggle was involved. In the 15th century, a Welsh prince, Henry Tudor, became King Henry VII of England.

Than his son, King Henry VIII, united England and Wales under one Parliament in 1536. In Scotland a similar thing happened.

The King of Scotland inherited the crown of England and Wales in 1603, so he became King James I of England and Wales and King James VI of Scotland. The Parliaments of England, Wales and Scotland were united a century later in 1707.

The Scottish and Welsh are proud and independent people. In recent years there have been attempts at devolution in the two countries, particularly in Scotland where the Scottish Nationa­list Party was vary strong for a while. However, in a referendum in 1978 the Welsh rejected devolution and in 1979 the Scots did the same. So it seems that most Welsh and Scottish people are happy to form part of the UK even though they sometimes comp­lain that they are dominated by England, and particularly by London. The whole of Ireland was united with Great Britain from 1801 up until 1922. In that year the independent Republic of Ireland was formed in the South, while Northern Ireland became part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ire­land.

The flag of the United Kingdom, known as the Union Jack, is made up of three crosses. The upright red cross is the cross of St George, the patron saint of England. The white diagonal cross (with the arms going into the corners) is the cross of St And­rew, the patron saint of Scotland. The red diagonal cross is the cross of St Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. St David is the patron saint of Wales.

Invasion

What makes the Scottish, Welsh, English and Northern Irish different from each other? About 2,000 years ago the British Is­les were inhabited by the Celts who originally came from conti­nental Europe. During the next 1,000 years there were many inva­sions. The Romans came from Italy in AD43 and, in calling the country ‘Britannia’, gave Britain its name. The Angles and Sax­ons came from Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands in the 5th century, and England gets its name from this invasion (.Angle-land). The Vikings arrived from Denmark and Norway throughout the 9th cen­tury, and in 1066 (the one date in history which every British school-child knows) the Normans invaded from France. These inva­sions drove the Celts into what is now Wales and Scotland, and they remained, of course, in Ireland. The English, on the other hand, are the descendants of all the invaders, but are more Anglo- Saxon than anything else. These various origins explain many of the differences to be found between England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland — differences in education religion and the legal systems, but most obviously, in language.