1/British is a one country-four nations

-England = English

-Scotland = Scottish

-Northern Ireland = Irish

-Wales = Welsh

2/Symbols of the nations

-Ireland : the sharwonk

-Scotland : the thistle

-Wales : the leek and the daffodil

-England: the rose

3/Has been part of Great Britain or the United Kingdom since

-1535/42 : Wales

-1707: Scotland

-1801: Ireland

-1921: Northern Ireland

4/Population (2004)

-British population = 62,3m people in 2011 for a national territory of 242000km².

-British average population density: 256 inhabitants/km²

-French population = 65m people in 2011 for a national territory of 675000km² (547000km² for the metropole)

-French average population density: 94 inhabitants/km² (112 inhabitants/km²) for the metropole).

COUNTRY CAPITALE POPULATION SURFACEEngland London 5109200 130395 km²Scotland Edinburg 5062000 78782 km²

Wales Cardiff 2950000 20779 km²Northern Ireland Belfast 1685000 13843 km²

British operate evaluate en 3 levels:

-Schools & primary & secondary

-Higher education (university)

-Adult education

Schools are divided into 2 sectors of state following schools are funded by public money or private.

No comment education organization for the all country.

England and wells have different schools systems for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

One thing a comment education is compulsory between 5 and 16 years.

-Confusing terms

-Harrow school 30000 €/an.

LANGUAGES1/Official language

English (spoken monolingual by more than 95% of the UK population).

2/Recognized regional languages

Welsh (20% population Wales, around 600000 speakers).

Irish (about 7% population of NI, around 110000 speakers).

Scottish Gaelic (roughly 1% population of Scotland, around 60000 speakers) and Scots.

Ulster Scots ( a dialect of English spoken in NI, around 30000 speakers).

Cornish (roughly 3500 people in Cornwall).

In all countries, information and plates are marked in the languages of the country and the official language. (= bilingualism)

3/Constitutional Monarchy

-Queen Elizabeth 2

-Parliament = House of Commons and House of Lords = Westminster

4/British Prime Minister

David CAMERON: His wife Samantha. He meets the Queen.

5/Coalition Cabinet

Conservative and Liberal Democrat.

Davis CAMERON (PM) and Nick CLEGG (Deputy 1er Minister).

New decked cabinet since May 6th , 2010.

6/Westminster and 5 regional/national parliaments

-Scotland: Hollyrood

-England: Welsh Assembly

-NI: Stormont

7/Devolution in 98 by Tony Blair’s New Labour Government

Creation of the Scottish parliament (at Hollyrood in Edinburg) by the Scotland.

Creation of the NI Parliament (at Stormont in Belfast) by the good Friday agreement (10 April 98).

Creation of the Welsh Assembly (in Cardiff) by the government of Wales Act.

8/Devolution

Devolution means a form of autonomy in local affairs (education, the environment, languages, social welfare, sport, tourism, religion, local, taxes…).

9/The united Kingdom and Europe

The UK joined the European Union in 1973.

The UK is not part of the “Eurozone” as it kept the pound sterling as its national currency.

London is the largest financial center in Europe (and in the world alongside with New York).

10/The pound sterling (coins)

1 sterling= 1,2€

11/The city’s emblematic buildings

12/Rankings

The economy of the United Kingdom is the sixth-largest national in the world measured by GDP (gross domestic product) and PP (purchasing power parity).

The economy of the United Kingdom is the third-largest in Europe measured by GDP (after Germany and France) and second-largest measured by PPP (after Germany).

13/Main industries

Energy Resources: very-strong - coal, but eps.oil and gas (exploitation offshore oil).

Manufacturing in decline – esp.car markers.

Tertiary sector: the dominant sector in the UK today – finance, transports.

14/Confusing terms

-College = Higher education institution,

= University

-Public School State school School funded by public money

-an independent or private school: where pupil’s parents pay high fees to have their children educated.

- (very often) elitist schools

-approx. 2,400 public schools in the UK today

-6% of all British pupils from 4 to 18.

-Eton, Harrow, Winchester

15/Public schools

16/State schools

17/Eton college, Windsor

18/Harrow school

19/Winchester college

20/Primary and secondary education

3 to 5: Nursery school

5 to 11: Primary school (emphasis on the 3 “Rs”: reading, writing and arithmetic).

11 to 16: Secondary school

5th from: GCSE

6th from “2 years”: Advanced Subsidiary/ A level

21/Subjects

3 core Subjects that are compulsory until the age of 16: English, Maths, Science

A selection of Foundation Subjects that is compulsory until the age of 14: Technology, History, Geography, Music, Art, PE or Physical education, a foreign language.

Marks: scale of A to E.

22/School uniforms

23/School life

Compulsory religious education.

School uniform with special school blazon and special tie or skirt.

School assembly every morning.

24/Universities

90 universities, including the Open University.

1.2m full-time students at undergraduate level (2003).

207.000 full-time students at postgraduate level (2003).

4 types of universities:

-Very old universities: Oxford, Cambridge, St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburg.

-“Redbrick universities”: Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, and Nottingham.

-Universities of the 60s: East Anglia, Sussex, York.

-Converted polytechnics (early 1990s).

25/Cambridge university

26/Oxford university

27/Universities around the country

University Nottingham

University East Anglia Norwich

University Manchester

THE MONDIAL PRESS BRITISH CIRCULATION

1/The print press

The main national press in Britain is genuinely a London press as most papers have their headquarters and printing facilities in the capital. In the past centuries, Fleet Street used to concentrate all the main press buildings.

2/Newspapers

11 main daily newspapers

Quality papers Mid-Market papers Popular papers

The times The Daily Mail The Daily Mirror

The Financial Times The Daily Express The Daily Star

The Guardian The Sun

The Independent

The Daily Telegraph

3/Sunday papers/ editions

-The Sim : News of the world

-The Guardian: The Observer

-The Independent: The independent on Sunday

-Daily telegraph: Sunday telegraph

-Daily Minor: Sunday Minor

-Times: Sunday times

Sunday editions are extremely popular because of their “thickness” and diversity, together with the traditional paper. They include color magazines, various supplements (Tv sports, travels, technology, education…) and issues for children.

4/…………………………..

The circulation of times in 3m by day. Since the 1950’s, they have been a gradual decline in newspapers (…) with an acceleration in records years (newspapers writs and (…) editions). 50% of people over 15 read a daily paper

70% of people over 15 read a Sunday paper

(…) circulation of national paper is:

-13 million copies on weekdays

-14 million copies on Sundays

5/The power of the press

The British press is really powerful.

There is no state-control or censorship.

In 1990, a watchdog (organisme de contrôle) was created, though. It is not a government body (organisme gouvernemental) but a self-regulatory body (organisme de regulation interne): It is the PCC or Press Complaints Commission.

Introduction of a code of (Good) practice (Code de déontologie).

6/BBC in detail-Radin

RADION 1: Pop music

RADIO 2: Music (album oriented Rock), news & comedy-most popular radio un the UK.

RADIO 3: Classical Music, opera, jazz, world music, drama and the arts

RADIO4: News, drama cultural programs (sciences, history…) & parliamentary coverage, high starting radio/ high level

RADIO 5: News & live sports

And also radio 1Xtra, radio extra, radio 6 music…

7/Broadcasting Media- Private sector

RADIO: There are around 600 licensed radio stations in the UK today.

TELEVISION:

-ITV

-Channel 4 = Canal +

-FIVE = Arte, France 5

-B stays B (Sky News, Sky Movies, Sky Music…) on satellite/ cable

9/TV Channels

-BBC one -BBC World News

-BBC Two -BBC Prince

10/The “ofcom”

The Office of Communication or “ofcom” was created in 2003.

It’s the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting telecommunication and postal industries.

Ofcom has wide-ranging power across the TV & Radio sectors.

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS

1/Founding principles

No written constitution but a series of key constitutional documents.

The constitution is flexible and may be altered by a decision of parliament.

PARLIAMENT is sovereign:

Parliament the Queen + Two Chambers

A bicameral parliament with a maximum duration of 5 years.

2/Founding texts

MAGNA CARTA 1215

The Charter limited the king’s powers to raise taxes and guaranteed feudal rights and the liberties of the cities.

HABEAS CORPUS 1679

It guarantees the rights of the individual arbitrary arrests are banned.

BILL OF RIGHTS 1989

It defines the rights of Parliaments and the people, against the rights of the king. It also stresses the legislative role of Parliament.

ACT OF SETTLEMENT 1701

It specifies that no catholic king or queen can inherit the crown.

3/Altogether…

History has established in the UK a limited monarchy where the power lies with the monarch in Parliament, i.e. the monarch and two chambers of Parliament: the upper chamber (House of Lords) and the lower chamber (House of Commons).

4/The monarchy

The Monarchy is hereditary.

The power of the monarch is limited: the Queen reigns but does not rule.

The Queen has a Royal Prerogative.

The Queen has formal constitutional roles:

1- Head of state2- Head of the executive, judiciary and legislature3- Supreme governor’ of the Church of England4- Commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

5/The Queen’s functions

The Queen has EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS: She appoints the Prime Minister and confers titles.

The Queen has LEGISLATIVE FUNCTIONS: She opens Parliament every year (Queen’s Speech) and gives her Royal Assent to acts of Parliament.

The Queen has JUDICIAL FUNCTIONS: She appoints senior judges.

6/Symbolical more than actual powers…

1- The Prime Minister is necessarily leader of the majority party2- The Queen doesn’t write her annual speech to Parliament; she reads a speech

written by the PM3- Many of her decisions (dissolving Parliament, granting titles, appointing judges or

high civil servants, etc) are taken on the advice of the PM or ministers.4- Her Royal Assent on Laves in purely symbolical.

7/A few additional elements…

-The Queen is mostly a symbol of the nation’s unity.

-Her expenses are paid by Parliament through the Civil List. Other costs incurred by the monarch as a private individual or a sovereign come either from the Privy Purse (finance received from the revenues of some royal estates) or from the Crown’s own investments.

-The Queen is supposed to be politically neutral, so she is not allowed to vote.

-The Queen is helped by a private advisory council called the Privy Council (400 Privy councilors).

8/The government

The Prime Minister (PM) lives and works at 10 Downing Street. He has great power within the British system of government.

The Cabinet-presided over by the PM-usually comprises 21 seniors ministers among whom:

5 secretaries of State at the head of 5 Offices (key ministries)

1- HOME SECRETARY = HOME OFFICE2- FOREIGN SECRETARY = FOREIGN OFFICE3- CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER = FINANCE MINISTER4- LORD CHANCELLOR = MINISTRY OF JUSTICE5- SCOTTISH SECRETARY = SCOTTISH OFFICE

9/The civil servants

1- The house of Lords is also called the UPPER CAHMBER. It currently has around 830 members.

2- It comprises:

26 Lords Spiritual (The Archbishops of Canterbury and York and 24 senior bishops of the Church of England).

Circa 800 Lords Temporal (some 92 peers and peeresses with hereditary titles and about 700 life peers and peeresses appointed by political parties and an independent Appointments Commission).

3- It has relatively limited powers: it is mostly a revising chamber. Yet, it is the highest Court of Appeal in the land.

UK government departments are staffed by the Civil Service, consisting of career administrators or “civil servants”.

Whitehall is the world commonly applied to the government’s administrative machine as it is the street in central London where almost all government departments are located.

10/the House of Lords

The judicial of the House of Lords as the highest appeal court in the UK has ended.

From 1 October 2009, the Supreme Court of the UK assumed jurisdiction on points of law for all civil law cases in the UK and all criminal cases in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Supreme Court comprises 12 Law Lords or Lords of Appeal in Ordinary.

11/the House of Commons

It comprises 659 Members of Parliament (MPS) who are elected for 5 years in their respective constituencies.

There are about 520 MPS for England, about 40 for Wales, about 75 for Scotland and 15 for Northern Ireland.

The function of the House is to debate and legislate.

12/ Inside the House of Commons (CTN D)

13/General elections

-The British electoral system is a simple majority system. It means that there is only one round of election. The candidate with moist votes gets elected.

-This system is often called “First-past-the-post” system.

-Election day in the UK in not Sunday but a weekday normally Thursday.