The future of the monarchy

For the last 250 years, the British monarchy as an institution has only rarely been a

burning political issue and most people are either vaguely in favour or they just

don't care one way or the other. There is, however, a great deal of debate about

what kind of monarchy Britain should have. During the last two decades of the

twentieth century, there has been a general cooling of enthusiasm. The Queen

herself remains popular. But the various marital problems in her family have

lowered the prestige of royalty in many people's eyes.

Nevertheless, the monarchy remains broadly popular. The people appear

unconvinced by republican arguments that it is an outdated institution which

prevents British people from living in a true democracy or that it hinders genuine

equality among them. This is despite the fact that they realize the monarchy is an

anachronism. Opinion polls show that, although the vast majority are in favour of

the monarchy, they believe that Britain will not have one 100 years from now.

The Queen herself is aware of the public perception. After the fire at Windsor

Castle, parts of Buckingham Palace (her official London residence) were opened to

public visitors for the first time. The intention was to use the money raised to pay

for the repairs. But in fact, the palace, and some other royal residences, have

remained open to the paying public ever since.

MORE INFORMATION ON THE TOPIC

Honours

Twice a year, an Honours List is published. The people whose names appear on the

list are then summoned to Buckingham Palace where the Queen presents them with

a token which entitles them to write (and be formally addressed with) KG, or KCB,

or MBE, or many other possible combinations of letters, after their names. The

letters stand for titles such as 'Knight of the Order of the Garter', 'Knight

Commander of the Order of the Bath', 'Member of the British Empire', and so on.

Life peerages are also awarded, which entitle the recipients to a seat in the House

of Lords.

Traditionally, it was by giving people titles such as these that the monarch

'honoured' a person as a reward for some service. These days, the decision about

who gets which honour is usually taken by the Prime Minister. And the names of

the titles don't seem to make much sense in modern times. But that does not stop

people finding it a real 'honour' to be given a title by the monarch herself! A high

proportion of honours are given to politicians and civil servants, but they are also

given to business people, sports stars, rock musicians and other entertainers.

THE GOVERNMENT

1.The cabinet

2.The Prime Minister

3.The civil service

4.Central and local government

5.The structure of local government outside London

Read the text and find the answers to the following questions

What do/can British people mean when they talk about ‘government’?

What in British politics is ‘single party’/ coalition/ minority government?

What is collective responsibility in British government?

How does the cabinet work/ what are the peculiarities of the cabinet activities?

How are the monarch’s and Prime Minister’s positions similar and different?

What are the reason’s for Prime Minister’s dominance over the other ministers?

What for does the civil service exist? What is the idea behind it? What are the

responsibilities and the peculiarities of the career of civil servants?

How is the system of local governments in GB organized? What is the difference of this

type of state organization from the federal one?

What are councillors?

What kind of services do local governments manage? What kind of tax can local

government collect?

Who is gaining more power in the councils these days: local or national government?

What are the responsibilities of local governments?

What are the Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary, Chancellor of the Exchequer in charge

of?

What is ‘the cabinet’?

What do the media mean when they mention Downing Street?

What is the term 'Whitehall' used to refer to?

What are the origins of the civil service?

Do you think the theory of collective responsibility is a good one? Does it exist in

Ukraine?

What are the equivalent titles in Ukraine for: Chancellor, Home Secretary, Foreign

Secretary?

A British Prime Minister has no status in law which puts him or her above other

politicians. So why are modern British PMs so powerful?

How does the relationship between central and local government in Britain compare with

that in Ukraine?

When the media talk about the government, they usually mean one of two things.

In one meaning, it refers to all the politicians who run government departments

(there are several politicians in each department) or have other special

responsibilities, such as managing the activities of Parliament. There are normally

about a hundred members of ‘the government’ in this sense. Although there are

various ranks, each with their own titles, members of the government are usually

known as 'ministers'. Unlike in the USA and some other countries in Europe, it is

rare for a person from outside Parliament to become a minister.

The other meaning of the term 'the government' is more limited. It refers only to

the most powerful of these politicians, namely, the Prime Minister and the other

members of the cabinet. There are usually about twenty people in the cabinet

(though there are no rules about this). Most of them are the heads of the

government departments.

Partly as a result of the electoral system, Britain, unlike much of western Europe,

normally has 'single-party' government'. That is, all members of the government

belong to the same political party. Coalition government (where several parties are