Иностранный язык. Английский язык. Учебное пособие

4. Favoured over other industries

In countries where tourism is a major industry sector, the government can sometimes focus all their energy and funds on the industry. This is often at the peril of other important industries like education, infrastructure and healthcare. This can result in pristine tourist areas, new infrastructure and funding for the benefit of visitors. But what about the locals who live in the country? They might not enjoy anywhere near the same level of development.

5. Social disadvantages of tourism

The impacts of tourism on society and culture are often contested and deeply complicated. Tourism is just one of many forces that can impact on and change cultures, like globalisation, technology and the media. But there is no denying that tourism and culture and society are inseparable. And there are some major disadvantages of tourism in this area.

6. The commodification of culture

This is one of the most complex, morally challenging and difficult parts of tourism. It warrants an entire discussion of its own, but in short, tourism can turn culture into a commodity. When traditional culture becomes an attraction, that people pay to see, this raises complicated ethical issues. Often times the culture that is presented to tourists has been adapted to be more appealing to the visitor. Traditional dances and costumes are amended, ceremonies or rituals are shortened, and handicrafts are often made smaller or lighter to fit in suitcases. Only certain elements of a culture are deemed worthy of presenting to tourists. And usually, there is a whole host of problems behind closed doors that tourists are never exposed to or aware of. The culture of a destination as seen through the tourists’ eyes is not authentic at all.

7. Erosion of culture

This issue is different to the previous issue in that culture can not only be commodified but in many cases lost altogether as a result of tourism. The ‘demonstration effect’ occurs when locals, particularly in traditional or indigenous cultures, observe the behaviours of visitors, usually Western tourists. Exposing the locals to a completely different way of life can lead to changes in their local culture, particularly from younger members of the community. They can begin to mimic and replicate the cultures of the tourists who visit and move away from the customs and traditions of their own culture.

8. Tourists behaving badly

When people are on holiday they tend to leave their moral compass at home. They are relaxing, want to have a good time, and outside of their usual environment. This can lead to major clashes between tourists and locals, and leave the locals wishing the tourists had never arrived. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, tourists can offend locals and make them uncomfortable in their own homes. Dressing inappropriately, not being aware of culturally unacceptable behaviours and general bad behaviour through the use of alcohol and drugs are just some of the bad behaviours tourists bring to a destination.

9. Physical damage to culture and heritage

The Colosseum, Petra, Angkor Wat, the Great Wall of China. Some of the biggest tourist attractions in the world are ancient, historical sites, built centuries ago by different civilisations. These physical representations of ancient cultures are old and fragile. And having thousands, sometimes millions, of tourists tramp through them each year places a lot of strain on the structures and can cause irreparable damage. Not all damage is deliberate on the part of the tourists, but simply having people walk over old stones, touch rock walls and lean on sites can cause irreversible erosion and damage. However many sites are suffering from the deliberate actions of tourists, such as littering, graffitiing, taking pieces of the site home with them and climbing on off-limits structures.

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Environmental disadvantages of tourism

The negative impacts of tourism on the environment are often the most publicised and talked about. They are easier for us to physically see and quantify, so it can be easier to talk about them. But the impacts that tourism can have on the environment are very complex and can be both direct and indirect. The environment is a complicated web of ecosystems, and one small action can have rippling effects throughout an entire area or species. This is by no means an exhaustive list of the negative things tourism can do to our environment. But some of the issues listed are a bit easier to quantify, where tourism has a direct impact.

1. Intense use of resources

Tourists, like all people, use resources such as water and energy. However many popular tourist destinations around the world are already dealing with resource scarcities, and tourism can severely exacerbate the problem. Tourism as an industry is a massive overuser of water. Swimming pools and golf courses require a lot of water, and I can’t think of something more synonymous with a holiday than a swimming pool. Tourists themselves tend to use more water than when they are at home, and doing their laundry can consume a lot of water and energy. Cooling and/or heating large hotels and resort complexes and their swimming pools also require a lot of electricity.

2. Physical damage to natural and marine areas

Tourism takes place in some of the most pristine, yet fragile natural areas in the world. Hiking in the rainforest, snorkeling in coral reefs and climbing alpine mountains are just some of the many activities that can physically impact and damage the natural environment. Vegetation can be damaged having tourists continually trampling over the same paths (and often going off the path too). Corals are damaged by boats and anchors, and tourists (accidentally or not) touching and breaking them. This damage has major flow-on effects on the wider ecosystems and can indirectly impact entire ecosystems and species.

3. Increased waste, pollution and emissions

From rubbish to sewerage, carbon emissions from transport carriers and water pollution – tourism produces a lot of unwanted waste. In many lesser developed countries around the world, tourism has come on quicker than their local infrastructure can handle, and disposing of the increased waste tourists bring has proven troublesome. Sewerage can end up in local rivers and lakes, and rubbish can be burnt or end up in the ocean. And transporting tourists from point A to B, by planes, in particular, releases a ton of carbon emissions into our atmosphere.

4. Land use and infrastructure development

Tourists need places to stay, airports for planes to land in and ports for boats to depart from. Natural areas are often cleared to make way for this construction, displacing animals and destroying forests or wetlands. A lot of tourism occurs in coastal areas, and building hotels and resorts right along the coastline can have major impacts on the ocean and surrounding reefs due to erosion and sand runoff. The same goes for constructing marinas and ports, where sand mining and dredging can have disastrous consequences for marine ecosystems. https://studycorgi.com/trends-of-modern-tourism-industry/

https://sallysees.com/the-disadvantages-of-tourism/

Great Britain

The British Isles, which include Great Britain, Ireland and a lot of smaller islands, are situated off the northwestern coast of Europe and once formed part of that continent. They became islands

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when they were separated from it. The separation took place thousands of years ago, after the last Ice Age, when the ice melted, the level of the oceans rose and drowned the low-lying coastlands.

Politically the British Isles are divided into two countries — the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Irish Republic or Eire. All in all there are over 5,000 islands in the system of the British Isles which lie on the continental shelf. The two main islands are Great Britain (in which are England, Wales and Scotland) to the east and Ireland (in which are Northern Ireland and the independent Irish Republic) to the west. They are separated by the Irish Sea. The UK is situated off the west coast of Europe between the Atlantic Ocean on the northwest and the North Sea on the east and is separated from the European continent by the English Channel (or La Manche) and the Strait of Dover.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the official name of the state which is sometimes referred to as Great Britain or Britain (after its major isle), England (after its major historic part) or the British Isles. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the UK) occupies most of the territory of the British Isles. It consists of four main parts which are: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Their capitals are London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.

The UK is one of the world's smaller countries (it is twice smaller than France or Spain), with an area of some 244,100 square kilometres. The population of the United Kingdom is nearly 59 million people. English is not the only language which people use in the UK. English is the official language. But some people speak Gaelic in western Scotland, Welsh — in parts of northern and central Wales.

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 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.

Geographically, the island of Great Britain is subdivided into two main regions — Lowland Britain and Highland Britain, Lowland Britain comprises southern and eastern England, Highland Britain consists of Scotland, most of

Wales, the Pennines, and the Lake District. The Pennine Chain extends southward from the Cheviot Hills into the Midlands, a plains region with low hills and valleys. England is separated from Scotland by the Cheviot Hills, running from east to west.

The chief rivers of Great Britain are the Severn, flowing along the border between England and Wales, tributaries of which include the Avon famed by Shakespeare; the Thames, which flows eastward to the port of London and some others.

There are many lakes in Great Britain. On the northwest side of the Pennine system lies the Lake District, containing the beautiful lakes which give it its name. This district is widely known for its association with the history of English literature and especially with the name of William Wordsworth (1770—1859), the founder of the Lake School of poets.

The largest cities of Great Britain are London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Bristol, Leeds, and Edinburgh. The most important ports are London, Liverpool, Southampton, Belfast, Glasgow and Cardiff.

Mineral resources

The rise of Britain as an industrial nation in the late 18th and early 19th centuries was partly due to the presence of considerable mineral resources. They provided raw materials as well as sources of power. She possessed abundant supplies of coal and iron ore, the two chief minerals on which the Industrial Revolution was based.

Britain had enough non-ferrous metals — copper, lead, and tin, for example, to meet her needs for a time. But in the course of the last hundred years or so the situation has gradually changed. Many of Britain's most valuable and accessible deposits have been worked out. Moreover, coal had lost

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some of its former importance, and such minerals as petroleum and uranium ores have become essential materials in the modern world.

At the same lime British industry has been one increasingly orientated towards lighter industry and the heavier coal-based industries have tended to decrease as the dependence upon coal as a source of power has declined. The absence in Great Britain of high-grade iron ore, manganese, chrome, nickel and many other rare metals makes her economy greatly dependent on imported raw materials.

England

Of the four parts which make up Great Britain England is the industrial and most densely populated part of the United Kingdom. Over 48,8 million people of the population of the UK live in England. The greatest concentrations of population are in London and northwest industrial cities. The coasts of England are washed by the North Sea, the Irish Sea, the English Channel and the Strait of Dover. No part of England is more than 120 kilometres from the sea. The opening of the Channel Tunnel means Britain's railway network is now linked directly to Europe. Eurostar trains run several times a day from the centre of London to Paris and Brussels.

It is interesting to note that the sea has been important in the history of England. It was a good protection against the attacks of outside peoples. Fishing has always been an important industry, especially in the east. The sea also has a great effect on England's climate.

England is mostly a lowland country. There are upland regions in the north and the southwest, but the rest of England is almost flat. Northern England, Midlands and Southern England—each part of England is different.

The wool industry is centred in Leeds and Bradford, the cotton industry in Manchester, iron ore goes to the steel, heavy machinery and shipbuilding industries of Newcastle and other cities. The industries of the Midlands, with Birmingham as its chief city, produce metal goods, from motor cars and railway engines to pins and buttons. The Midland plain makes good farm land. In Southern England are found some of the oldest British settlements and traces of ancient monuments such as Stonehenge.

Scotland

Although Scotland takes up one third of the territory of the British Isles, its population is not very big. It is the most northern part of the island of Great Britain and is not far away from the Arctic Circle.

That's why it is not densely populated: its population is a little over 5 million people. The Cheviot Hills mark the boundary between England and Scotland. Apart from this land link with England, Scotland is surrounded by sea.

Scotland includes the Hebrides off the west coast, and the Orkney and Shetland Islands off the north coast. It is bounded by the North Sea on the east. Scotland is divided into three regions: the Highlands, which is the most northern and the most underpopulated area with a harsh climate, the Lowlands, which is the most industrial region, with about three quarters of the population, and the Southern Uplands, with hills, which border on England. The Highlands of Scotland are among the oldest mountains in the world. They reach their highest point in Ben Nevis (1343 m).

Many valleys between the hills are filled with lakes, called lochs. The best-known is Loch Ness where some people think a large monster lives. The most important city here is Aberdeen which is the oil centre of Scotland. Ships and helicopters travel from Aberdeen to the North Sea oil rigs. Most of the population of Scotland is concentrated in the Lowlands. Here, on the Clyde, is Glasgow, Scotland's biggest city. Shipbuilding is one of its most important industries, other industries are iron and steel, heavy and light engineering and coal-mining. It is the centre of the working-class movement and has glorious revolutionary traditions.

Glasgow was a grim city because of the greyness of the houses many of which were not suitable for living and needed repairs or rebuilding. But now this city is rapidly changing, turning into an important cultural centre. Glasgow Is sometimes called "the friendly city”. Scotland had been an independent state and was joined into the UK in 1707, after a long struggle for its independence. One

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of the things that people associate with Scotland is the kilt. The kilt is a relic of the time when the clan system existed in the Highlands. Everybody in the clan had the same family name, like Mac Donald or MacGregor (Mac means ‘son of’). The clan had its own territory and was ruled by a chieftain. Each clan had its own tartan. The national dress for Scotsmen includes a kilt in the tartan cloth of his clan and the sporran, a pouch worn in front of the kilt.

Edinburgh has been the capital since the 15th century, when its fortified castle was the centre of Scotland’s resistance to its enemies. Edinburgh is the cultural centre of Scotland. It is associated with the names of George Gordon Byron and Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson. Robert Burns and Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes. It is also associated with the world-famous Edinburgh Festival of Music and Drama. The Festival was first held in 1947 and has been held annually ever since. Its emblem is a thistle.

Wales

Another constituent country of the United Kingdom Great Britain and Northern Ireland is Wales. It became part of England in 1536 by the Act of Union. Until then it had been regarded as a separate principality but a dependency of England.

The Welsh call their country Cymru, and themselves they call Cymru, a word which has the same root as 'comrader' (friend, or comrade). The population of Wales is over 3 million people. About 75 percent of the people of Wales live in towns and urban districts. South Wales has a rich tradition of struggle for more jobs and better working conditions in mines. Wales is a highland country of old, hard rocks. North Wales is a country of mountains and deep valleys. South Wales is a land of high hills and wide valleys. The pride of Wales in scenery is Snowdonia, a region of high mountains. Snowdon is the highest mountain in England and Wales. Except for coal, mineral resources are limited, and include gold, silver, lead and copper. South Wales is more developed: coal-mining, steel production, electronics, electrical engineering can be found here.

The capital of Wales is Cardiff, the largest city of Wales. Cardiff is situated near the mouth of the Taff River. It is an important industrial city and a port. It is also an administrative and educational centre. The second largest city in Wales is Swansea where mainly steel production can be found. Since World War II there has been intensive development in the metals industries especially in the south and southeast.

The Welsh people, especially in rural areas, are fond of folk music, singing, poetry and drama. Welsh literature is one of the oldest in Europe. There are many choirs in Wales, the standard of singing is high and the love of good music is widespread. Now there is a growing movement of revival of Welsh culture from which sprang the revival of Eisteddfod. Eisteddfod in the form of a gathering of bards had occasionally been held in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. Now Eisteddfod is a festival of Welsh culture. It includes competitions in prose, poetry and singing. Wales has its own flag called the Welsh dragon.

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is the smallest component of the United Kingdom. It occupies the northeast of the island of Ireland, only one-sixth of its territory. Northern Ireland contains six of the nine counties of the historic province of Ulster' and that is why the name 'Ulster' is sometimes used as equivalent to Northern Ireland. Its capital city is Belfast.

For seven centuries Ireland was a colony of Britain. Due to the colonial policy of Great Britain the Irish nation was forcefully partitioned. As a result of the hard struggle of the Irish people for independence the larger part of Ireland gained the status of a British dominion in 1921. Much later, in 1949 it was officially proclaimed an independent state, the Irish Free State of Eire. The industrial northeast (Northern Ireland with its 6 counties) was retained by Great Britain as its smallest component. But certain forces of both the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland are for the reunification of the country, against social deprivation which is at its worst among Catholics. They believe that British withdrawal from Ireland is the only way to achieve peace. The Protestants in Northern Ireland wish to retain her links with Britain.

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There are low hills and peaks of rocks in the northwest, while the northeast sector of the island is a plateau. The Mourne Mountains in the southeast slope down to Lough Neagh, the largest lake m the British isles. The rivers of Ireland are short but deep. The largest river is the Shannon. The population of Northern Ireland is over 1.5 million people. 53 percent of the total population live in urban areas. The whole economy of Northern Ireland is closely integrated with that of Great Britain. It has its roots in three basic industries—agriculture, textiles and shipbuilding. The largest industry is agriculture conducted for the most part on small family farms. It occupies about 72 per cent of the land area.

Belfast, the capital of Northern Irelands is the leading industrial centre and a large port. Its chief industries are the production of linen and other textiles, clothing, shipbuilding, engineering. In Ireland the national musical instrument is the harp.

Population

The population of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is nearly 59 million people. The population lives mostly in towns and cities and their suburbs. Four out of every five people live in towns. The distribution of the population is rather uneven. Over 48.8 million people live in England, over 3 million in Wales, a little over 5 million in Scotland and about 1.5 million in Northern Ireland.

Greater London, the south and the southeast are the most densely populated areas. London's population is more than 8,400,000. Most of the mountainous parts of the UK including much of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Pennine Chain in northern England are very sparsely populated.

The UK is inhabited by the English, the Scots, the Welsh, and the Irish' who constitute the British nation. The British are the descendants of different peoples who settled in the British Isles at different times. The earliest known people of Britain were of Iberian origin. Then followed a long succession of invaders including the Celts, the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons, the Danes and at last in 1066 the Normans. It was the last time Britain was invaded.

Now there are also many people of all colours and races in the UK. These are mostly former inhabitants of the former British colonies. These people, called 'the coloureds', came to the UK in search of better living standards.

English is the official language of the UK. Besides standard literary English, there are many regional and social dialects. A well-known example is the cockney of East Londoners. The Scottish and Irish forms of Gaelic survive in some parts of Scotland and Ireland. Wales is officially bilingual, Welsh is spoken by about a fifth of its population. Welsh is the first language in most of the western counties of Wales and at least formally has the same status as English. Nowadays there is a growing movement in Wales and Scotland for a revival of national culture and languages.

Climate

The climate in the UK is generally mild and temperate due to the influence of the Gulf Stream. The southwestern winds carry the warmth and moisture into Britain. The climate in Britain is usually described as cool, temperate and humid. As the weather changes with the wind, and Britain is visited by winds from different parts of the world, the most characteristic feature of Britain's weather is its variability. The English also say that they have three variants of weather: when it rains in the morning, when it rains in the afternoon or when it rains all day long. Sometimes it rains so heavily that they say 'It's raining cats and dogs''.

Rainfall is more or less even throughout the year. In the mountains there is heavier rainfall than in the plains of the south and cast. The driest period is from March to June and the wettest months are from October to January. The average range of temperature (from winter to summer) is from 5 to 23 degrees above zero. During a normal summer the temperature sometimes rises above 30 degrees in the south. Winter temperatures below 10 degrees are rare. It seldom snows heavily in winter, frost is rare. January and February are usually the coldest months, July and August the warmest. Still the

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wind may bring winter cold in spring or summer days. Sometimes it brings whirlwinds or hurricanes. Droughts are rare.

So, we may say that the British climate has three main features: it is mild, humid and changeable. That means that it is never too hot or too cold. Winters are extremely mild. Snow may come but it melts quickly. In winter the cold is a humid cold, not dry. This humid and mild climate is good for plants. Trees and flowers begin to blossom early in spring.

Vegetation and wildlife

The humid and mild climate of Great Britain is good for plants and flowers. Some of them have become symbols in the UK, Probably you know that the poppy is the symbol of peace, the red rose is the national emblem of England, the thistle is the national emblem of Scotland and the Edinburgh International Festival. The daffodils and the leek are the emblems of Wales, the shamrock (a kind of clover) is the emblem of Ireland.

The UK was originally a land of vast forests, mainly oak and beech in the Lowlands and pine and birch in the Highlands, with great stretches of marshland and smaller areas of moors. In the course of time, much forest land was cleared and almost all the Lowlands outside the industrial areas were put under cultivation. Today only about six per cent of the total land area remains wooded.

Extensive forests remain in eastern and northern Scotland and in southeastern and western England. Oak, elm, ash, and beech are the commonest trees in England, while Scotland has much pine and birch. The Highlands with thin soil are largely moorland with heather and grasses. In the cultivated areas that make up most of Britain there are many wild flowers, flowering plants and grasses.

The fauna or animal life of the UK is much like that of northwestern Europe, to which it was once joined. Many larger mammals such as bear and wolf have been hunted to extinction, others are now protected by law. About 50 land mammals are still found in the UK. There are many foxes. Otters are common along rivers and streams, and seals live along pans of the coast. Hedgehogs, hares, rabbits, rats and mice are numerous. Deer live in some of the forests in the Highlands of Scotland and in England. There are several small lizards, two or three kinds of snakes, and several kinds of frogs and toads.

Some 230 kinds of birds live in the UK, another 200 are regular visitors, and many are songbirds. The most numerous are blackbird, sparrow and starling. Robin Redbreast is the national bird of the UK. The number of ducks, geese and other waterfowl has diminished during recent years. Pheasants and other large and rare birds are protected by law. Gulls and other sea birds nest near the coast.

There are many threats to wildlife and ecological balance around the coast. The biggest threat to the coastline is pollution. Even much-loved Blackpool is not officially safe. More than 3.500 million tons of industrial waste were pumped into the North Sea every year. 'We cannot continue to use our seas as a dustbin and expect our coastline to survive', says Greenpeace. Many other ecological problems may be caused by privatization of the coast.

British government

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy. It means that it has a Monarch (a king or a queen) as its Head of State. The monarch reigns with the support of Parliament. The powers of the monarch are not defined precisely. Everything today is done in the King’s name. . It is his government, his armed forces, his law courts and so on. The position of the monarch is contradictory. On the one hand, the King has almost absolute power. As far as the law is concerned, he can appoint all the Ministers, including the Prime Minister and dismiss them. He summons the Parliament and dissolves it before the general Elections. There’s a principle of the English law that the Monarch can do nothing that is legally wrong. In other words, King is above law. On the other hand, however, the King has almost no power at all. As Britain is a parliamentary democracy, everything is done on the advice of the elected Government, the government is controlled by parliament elected by the people. So, the monarch takes no part in the decision-making process. Although the King is no longer

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responsible for governing the country, he carries out a great many important tasks on behalf of the nation.

Head of State – As Head of State, the King goes on official State visits abroad. He also invites other world leaders to come to the United Kingdom. During their visit, Heads of State usually stay at Buckingham Palace, or sometimes at Windsor Castle or Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.

Head of the Armed Forces – The King is also the Head of the Armed Forces. He is the only person who can declare when the country is at war and when war is over, although she must take advice from his government first.

Head of the Church of England – The King is Head of the Church of England – a position that all British monarchs have held since it was founded by Henry VIII in the 1530s. The King appoints archbishops and bishops on the advice of the Prime Minister. The spiritual leader of the Church of England is the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Government Duties – Every day 'red boxes' are delivered to the King's desk full of documents and reports from the government ministers and Commonwealth officials. They must all be read and, if necessary, signed by the King.

Represents the Nation – The King represents the nation at times of great celebration or sorrow. One example of this is Remembrance Day ceremony at the Cenotaph monument in Whitehall. The King lays a wreath there each year to honour the members of the armed forces who have died fighting for their country.

Royal Garden Parties – At least three Royal Garden Parties are held at Buckingham Palace each year and about 8,000 guests attend each one.

Visits – Alongside her other duties the Monarch spends a huge amount of time travelling around the country visiting hospitals, schools, factories and other places and organizations.

The word government usually has two meanings. It can be used to refer to all the politicians who are normally known as Ministers. There are about a 100 members of the government in this sense. The other meaning of the word is more limited. It refers only to the most powerful politicians, namely the Prime Minister and the other members of the Cabinet. There are usually 20 members in the Cabinet. The position of a British Prime Minister is in direct contrast to that of the monarch. The PM appears not to have much power but in reality has a great deal indeed. The king is said to appoint people to government on the advice of the PM. But what actually happens is that the PM simply decides and makes an appointment. The strength of the PM’s power is seen from the modern phenomenon known as "cabinet reshuffle”. The PM chooses about 20 MPs from his or her party to become the Cabinet of Ministers and quite easily changes the members of the Cabinet regardless of anyone’s opinion. The most important ministers are called Secretaries of State and they form the Cabinet. The Secretaries of State are in charge of a Government Department (a ministry). Each minister is responsible for his department, and makes sure that his department applies the policy of the government. The most important Secretaries of State are:

–The Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance)

–The Foreign Secretary (international affairs)

–The Home Secretary (internal affairs)

–The Lord Chancellor (the legal system)

–The Secretary of State for Education

–The Secretary of State for Transport and the Environment.

The Cabinet meets once a week and take decisions about new policies and the running of the various government departments. Reports are made of the meetings and circulated to government departments. They summarize the topic discussed and the decision taken. To make a conclusion, we may say that the government runs the country. The Cabinet with the PM as its head represents the executive power. The British Parliamentary system depends on political parties. Britain is normally described as a "two-party system”. There’s one important feature that differs Britain from other countries. It is that its parties were first formed inside Parliament and were only later extended to the public at large. During the 18th century MPs tended to divide themselves into 2 camps, those who

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usually supported the government of the time and those who usually didn’t. The political parties choose candidates in election. The party which wins the majority of seats forms the Government and its leader usually becomes Prime Minister. During the 19th century it gradually became a habit that the party which didn’t control the government, the second largest party, presented itself as an alternative government, or the opposition. The leader of the party receives the title "Leader of His Majesty’s Opposition” and even gets a salary to prove the importance of this role. He or she chooses "a shadow cabinet”.

As for the legislative branch, it is represented by the British Parliament. Parliament is where politicians (MPs) meet to decide laws and make decisions for the United Kingdom. It is not the same as the Government (which runs the country). One of the jobs Parliament does is to check that the Government is running the country properly.

The main functions of Parliament are:

–to pass laws;

–to provide, by voting for taxation, the means of carrying on the work of government;

–to scrutinise government policy and administration, including proposals for expenditure;

–to debate the major issues of the day.

Parliament is made up of three parts:

-The King

-The House of Lords

-The House of Commons

The King is the official Head of State. Britain has a constitutional monarchy where the King only rules symbolically; in reality, power belongs to Parliament. So, although the King 'opens' Parliament each year and laws are passed in his name, the King himself plays no part in determining decisions made in Parliament. The King has the final say on whether a bill becomes law. The last Monarch to reject a law that was wanted by both Houses of Parliament was Queen Anne. She died in 1715. The House of Commons is by far the more important of the two Houses and only members of the Commons are known as MPs. Each MP represents an area in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. MPs are elected either at a general election or at a by-election following the death or retirement of an MP. The minimum voting age is 18, and the voting is taken by secret ballot

General Elections

Elections to a UK Parliament are held at least every five years. At the end of the five year or before, a general election must take place so new members of parliament can be elected by the people. What is a General Election? The election of all Members of Parliament (MPs) for each constituency (local area) is called a General Election. In the UK people vote for the best candidate in their local area to represent them in the House of Commons. The UK system is not like the US system where you vote for the President/Vice-President, then your local representatives separately. In the UK, the winning candidate becomes MP and takes a seat in the House of Commons. The party with the majority of seats in the Commons gets to form the government. That party’s leader becomes Prime Minister. In the UK we have the House of Commons and the House of Lords. We can only vote for a MP to represent us in the House of Commons. The Lords are appointed or inherited.

How often do General Elections take place? – General elections have to take place at least every five years and are called by the Prime Minister (the leader of the Government).

Who can become a MP? – A British citizen, a citizen of the Republic of Ireland and a citizen of a commonwealth country who does not require leave to enter or remain in the UK, or has indefinite leave to remain in the UK are nominated as candidates to become MPs. Anyone over the age of 21 can be a candidate.

How does an MP get a seat in Parliament? – When an MP gets the most votes for his constituency (local area) he gains a seat. This means he has a place in Parliament.

When did the last General Elections take place? – The 2019 general election took place on Thursday 12 December.

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Who won the Elections? – The Conservative party. The leader of the party is Boris Johnson. He announced his resignation on 6 September 2022 and was succeeded by Liz Truss; his Foreign Secretary. Her resignation as prime minister was accepted by Charles III at an audience at Buckingham Palace. She became the shortest-serving prime minister of the United Kingdom in history. She was succeeded by Rishi Sunak as leader of the Conservative Party on 24 October, and advised Charles III to summon Sunak for an audience and for appointment as the new prime minister on 25 October.

The election campaign lasts about 3 weeks. The election is decided on a simple majority – the candidate with most votes wins.

The House of Commons is made up of 659 elected members. It is presided over by the Speaker. MPs sit on 2 sides of the Hall, one side for the governing party and the other for the opposition. The first 2 rows of seats are occupied by the leading members of the both parties (called "front-benchers”), the back benches belong to the ordinary (rank-&-file) members ("back-benchers”). In fact there aren’t enough seats for all MPs, there are only 400, Mps don’t have their own place to sit, they sit wherever they can find room. The main function of the House of Commons is to deal with proposed laws.

A proposed law, a bill, has to go through 3 stages in order to become an Act of Parliament. These stages are called readings. MPs have to vote for or against the proposal and afterwards make a resolution which either accepts or rejects the proposal. But the resolutions of the Commons are only part of its activities. There are also Committees. Some Committees are appointed to examine particular proposals for laws, but there are permanent Committees whose job is to investigate the activities of government in a particular field. Such Committees are becoming a more and more important part of the business of the Commons.

The other House in Parliament is the House of Lords, members of which are known as peers. They are not elected. They have inherited family titles or they have been given titles because of their outstanding work in one field or another. There are 675 members of the Lords, although only about 250 take an active part in the work of the House. The Chairman of the House of Lords is the LordChancellor and he sits on a special seat called the Woolsack. The House of Lords is a relic of earlier times, it has been allowed to survive but it has had to change, losing most of its powers. The main job of the House of Lords is to 'double check' new laws to make sure they are fair and will work. The members of the House of Lords debate a bill after it has been passed by the House of Commons. The modern House of Lords is a forum for public discussion. Because its members do not depend on party politics for their position, it’s sometimes able to bring important matters that the Commons has been ignoring into the open. What is more important, it’s the place where proposals for new laws are discussed in great detail – much more detail than the busy Commons has time for – and in this way irregularities and inconsistencies in these proposals can be removed before they become law. This can be said to be the role of the House of Lords.

Let’s see how a bill becomes a law:

A draft piece of legislation is called a bill, when this is passed by parliament it becomes an act and part of statute law. There are two types of bill and act, public and private. Public acts apply to the whole of the UK or a number of its constituent countries - England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Private acts are local and personal in their effect, giving special powers to bodies such as local authorities or making exceptions to the law in particular geographic areas.

In the United Kingdom Parliament, each bill passes through the following stages:

–Pre-legislative scrutiny.

–First reading: This is a formality; no vote occurs. The Bill is presented and ordered to be printed and, in the case of private members' bills, a date is set for second reading. Second reading: A debate on the general principles of the bill is followed by a vote.

–Committee stage: This usually takes place in a standing committee in the Commons and on the Floor of the House in the Lords. The committee considers each clause of the bill, and may make amendments to it.

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