BritainExplored = Изучение Великобритании. Часть 2

BRITAIN EXPLORED  
ИЗУЧЕНИЕ ВЕЛИКОБРИТАНИИ 
Часть 2 
Учебное пособие
2-е издание, стереотипное
Шадринск
ШГПУ
2024
Москва
Издательство «ФЛИНТА»
2024

УДК 811.111(075.8) 
ББК 81.432.1я73 
Б87
Рецензенты:
Елизова Е.И. - канд. пед. наук,
доцент кафедры филологии и социогуманитарных дисциплин
ФГБОУ ВО «Шадринский государственный педагогический университет»;
Дубаков А.В. - канд. пед. наук,
доцент кафедры теории и практики германских языков
ФГБОУ ВО «Шадринский государственный педагогический университет»
Б87
Britain Explored = Изучение Великобритании. В 2 ч. Ч. 2 : 
учеб. пособие. / Ю.В. Оларь. — 2-е изд., стер. — Москва : ФЛИНТА, 
2024. — 77 с. — ISBN 978-5-9765-5581-5 (ФЛИНТА) ; ISBN 
978-5-87818-648-3 (ШГПУ). — Текст : электронный.
    Целью пособия является формирование и совершенствование 
коммуникативной компетенции будущих учителей иностранных 
языков на материале курса «Лингвострановедение и страноведение». 
          Для студентов, изучающих  английский язык как второй. 
УДК 811.111(075.8)
ББК 81.432.1я73 
ISBN 978-5-9765-5581-5 (ФЛИНТА) 
ISBN 978-5-87818-648-3 (ШГПУ)
© Оларь Ю.В., 
    составление, 2024
© ШГПУ, 20224
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CONTENTS 
TOPIC VI. BRITISH STATE SYSTEM ............................................................. 4 
TOPIC VII. BRITISH EDUCATION 
............................................................. 13 
TOPIC VIII. BRITISH ECONOMY 
............................................................... 23 
TOPIC IX. BRITISH CULTURE AND ARTS .............................................. 39 
TOPIC X. OUTSTANDING BRITS .............................................................. 64 
BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................. 75 
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TOPIC VI. BRITISH STATE SYSTEM 
LEAD-IN 
I. Comment on the pictures:
II. Answer the questions:
1. What kind of state is the UK?
2. Who is the head of the state in the UK?
3. What are the Houses of the British Parliament?
FACTFILE 
Britain has the oldest parliamentary democracy in the world. It is also a 
constitutional monarchy. However, the country has no written constitution. 
Instead, there is a set of laws. The Queen is formally the Head of State and 
Parliament while the leader of the Government is the Prime Minister. But the 
monarch is expected to be politically neutral and should not make political 
decisions. Thus, the monarch reigns with the support of Parliament.  
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BRITISH GOVERNMENT 
The Government is made from the party that has the largest number of 
seats in the House of Commons. There are few political parties in Britain thanks 
to the British electoral system. The main ones are: the Conservative Party, the 
Labour Party and the Liberal Democratic Party. There are elections every five 
years. Each political party puts up one candidate for each constituency. The UK 
is currently divided into 650 constituencies; each is represented by one person 
in Parliament. These elected politicians are called Members of Parliament 
(MPs).  
The head of government is Prime Minister (PM). He has a residence at 10 
Downing Street in Whitehall, London. He is responsible for all government 
policy and the appointment of members of the government. The heads of 
government departments (around 20 people) form the Cabinet. They meet once 
a week privately.  
BRITISH PARLIAMENT 
 
Parliament consists of two chambers known as the House of 
Commons and the House of Lords. They are situated in the building famous for 
its clock called Big Ben. It is Westminster Palace or the Houses of Parliament 
in London.  
People in the House of Commons are called Members of Parliament 
(MPs). They debate and vote on bills. Besides, they scrutinize the work of 
government. Question Time is held at the beginning of every parliamentary day 
in the House of Commons to let the MPs check the work of Government. The 
House of Commons is presided over by the Speaker who is appointed by the 
Government. 
There are also other politicians who are in the House of Lords, they are 
called peers or lords. There are around 800 of them. The House of Lords is not 
elected. The Lords are either appointed by the Government (life peers) or 
inherit the position from their parents (hereditary peers). There is a reform 
going on in this house, the number of hereditary peers is being decreased. The 
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House of Lords also debates and votes on bills. It is presided by the Lord 
Speaker who sits on the Woolsack, a symbol of the British wealth. The House 
of Lords has no real power. It acts rather as an advisory council. 
A bill must go through the Houses, get the royal accent and then become 
a law. The royal accent is automatic, no bill has been rejected by a monarch 
since 1708. 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 
The present sovereign is Queen Elizabeth II. She was crowned in 
Westminster Abbey in 1953. Queen Elizabeth II is one of the richest women in 
the world. As well as being the Head of State and the Church of England, she is 
also Commander in Chief of the armed forces (Army, Navy, Air Force) and 
leader of the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth includes the third world 
countries that were in the British Empire, as well as  Australia, New Zealand 
and Canada. 
In reality the Queen doesn't play an active role in the government of the 
country, although the Prime Minister has to meet her every week to discuss 
what the Government is doing. Every year she officially opens Parliament in 
one of the colourful state occasions that she performs. These state occasions are 
big tourist attractions. 
The British State pays the Queen and the Royal Family for the job that 
they do. People pay the taxes to keep the royal yacht, train and aircraft as well 
as for the upkeep of several palaces. The people in the Royal Family who are 
paid by the state are called the "Civil List". The Queen now pays taxes but this 
is very recent. Love them or hate them, the Royal Family is an important 
feature in British culture. 
 
SOME OUTSTANDING BRITISH PRIME MINISTERS 
Robert Walpole (1721-42 Whig). Became Britain’s first de facto Prime 
Minister, despite a brief spell in prison for corruption. 
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Benjamin Disraeli (1868 and 1874-80 Conservative). Britain’s only 
Jewish PM was a close friend of Queen Victoria. Also wrote romantic novels. 
William Ewart Gladstone (1868-74, 1880-85, 1886 and 1892-94 
Liberal). Queen Victoria called Disraeli’s bitter rival a “half-mad firebrand”. He 
campaigned for social reform, Irish Home Rule and an ethical foreign policy. 
David Lloyd George (1916-22 Liberal). The only Welsh PM thus far 
won his spurs as Chancellor, proposing a large tax hike for the landed classes to 
fund higher social spending. 
Winston Churchill (1940-45 and 1951-5 Conservative). Voted ‘Greatest 
Ever Briton’ in a recent BBC poll, Churchill masterminded victory against Nazi 
Germany in the Second World War. 
Margaret Thatcher (1979-90 Conservative). The ‘Iron Lady’, the first 
woman to lead Government, was the longest serving PM for 150 years. The 
grocer’s daughter from Grantham privatized state industry, lowered taxes and 
reduced social spending. 
 
POLITICAL PARTIES 
THE BIG THREE 
Labour. Established to represent the newly enfranchised working class in 
1900, Labour remained the third party until 1945 when it won its first overall 
majority. After winning power in 1997, led by Tony Blair, New Labour 
dragged the party increasingly from the left to the centre. 
Conservatives. Right-of-centre party that evolved from the Tories in 
1834 when Robert Peel became leader. Thatcherism gave the party a clear, 
modern ideology based on free enterprise and private ownership, but they were 
blighted by scandal in the 1990s. David Cameron finally brought some 
semblance of unity to the party in the early 21st century. 
Liberal Democrats. Born by merger of the Social Democratic Party 
(SDP) and the Liberals (the old Whig party) in 1988. As the name suggests, a 
liberal party 
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concerned with social justice and personal freedom. The only one of the 
big three to oppose war in Iraq, they’re also the most pro-European. 
Consistently third  in the political race. 
 
POLITICAL PARTIES 
OTHER OPTIONS 
Scottish National Party (SNP). Founded in 1934 to press for an 
independent Scotland, and usually defined as moderately left of centre. They 
hold the biggest share of seats in the Scottish Parliament. 
Plaid Cymru. Founded in 1925 to champion Welsh cultural and 
linguistic identity, not least by demanding independence. A historical link with 
the Green Party places the environment high on the Plaid Cymru agenda. 
Green Party. First identifiable in 1973 and first known as the Green 
Party in 1985. Committed to environmental issues and the decentralisation of 
power but struggling to win seats in Parliament. 
UK Independence Party (UKIP). Founded in 1993 on a campaign to 
withdraw Britain from the EU. Did well in the 2016 European elections but has 
since faltered, not least after a leadership debacle starring TV talk show host 
Robert Kilroy-Silk. 
British National Party. Far right, whites-only party. They took less than 
one per cent of the vote in the 2015 election, but usually fair better in local 
elections. Reviled by mainstream politicians, most of the press and a good 
proportion of the public. 
https://english-studycafe.ru/index.php/students/englishspeakingworld/118-anglogovoryashchij-miruchashchimsya-kratko-o/813-politics 
 
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