VII. Comment on the following author’s statements.

1. Strictly speaking, ‘Great Britain’ is a geographical expression, but ‘The United Kingdom’ is a political expression.

2. ‘England’ and ‘English’ are often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Great Britain.

VIII. Answer the questions.

1. Do you consider it valid to use the term ‘united’ in the name ‘The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’? Does it really reflect the relations between all the nations within the Kingdom?

2. What is specific to the official government’s view of the British? Do you think it fully reflects the real public mood?

3. Do the peoples of the UK, in your viewpoint, consider themselves to be as happy and prosperous as the government does?

4. The results of a survey for the Observer newspaper showed that there appeared more freedom in society. Do you think that more freedom suggests the society to be happier and less violent?

5. Women, the old and those living in the north of England unlike the rest of the habitation claim, according to a survey, that life became worse over the past ten years. How could you explain such a vivid division in opinions due to sex, age and settlement?

IX. Read all the texts one more time and render their general contents in several sentences.

X. Read the text and list all the problems it deals with. The Telegraph

Comment, 24 February, 2011

Ten core values of the British identity

It cannot be said too often that terrorist atrocities¹ are solely the responsibility of those who perpetrate² them. To blame the invasion of Iraq, or the occupation of the West Bank, or poverty, or racism, or Western decadence, is both intellectually and morally wrong.

What is reasonable, however, is to ask why modern Britain is breeding so many anti-British fanatics. Muktar Said Ibrahim has lived here since he was 12, and in 2003 he applied for citizenship. Last week he attempted to blow up the No. 26 bus. Why?

Part of the answer has to do with how Britain sees itself. The ancestors of the Leeds bombers, who arrived here in the mid-20th century from countries which had prospered under colonial rule, were infected by the self-belief of the British Empire. They were content, as it were, to buy into³ a nation whose subjects were so obviously proud of it.

Many countries try to codify their values in law. Some oblige their citizens to speak the national language; others make it a criminal offence to show disrespect to the flag. But statutory patriotism is an intrinsically un-British notion⁴. We prefer simply to set out⁵, in general terms, the non-negotiable components of our identity – the qualities of the citizenship that Muktar Said Ibrahim applied for.

I. The rule of law. Our society is based on the idea that we all abide by the same rules, whatever our wealth or status. No one is above the law – not even the government.

II. The sovereignty of the Crown in Parliament. The Lords, the Commons and the monarch constitute the supreme authority in the land. There is no appeal to any higher jurisdiction, spiritual or temporal.

III. The pluralist state. Equality before the law implies that no one should be treated differently on the basis of belonging to a particular group. Conversely, all parties, sects, faiths and ideologies must tolerate the existence of their rivals.

IV. Personal freedom. There should be a presumption, always and everywhere, against state coercion⁶. We should tolerate eccentricity in others, almost to the point of lunacy, provided no one else is harmed.

V. Private property. Freedom must include the freedom to buy and sell without fear of confiscation, to transfer ownership, to sign contracts and have them enforced. Britain was quicker than most countries to recognise this and became, in consequence, one of the happiest and most prosperous nations on Earth.

VI. Institutions. British freedom and British character are

immanent⁷ in British institutions. These are not, mostly, statutory bodies, but spring from the way free individuals regulate each other's conduct, and provide for their needs, without recourse to coercion.

VII. The family. Civic society depends on values being passed from generation to generation. Stable families are the essential ingredient of a stable society.

VIII. History. British children inherit a political culture, a set of specific legal rights and obligations, and a stupendous series of national achievements. They should be taught about these things.

IX. The English-speaking world. The atrocities of September 11, 2001, were not simply an attack on a foreign nation; they were an attack on the anglosphere⁸ – on all of us who believe in freedom, justice and the rule of law.

X. The British character. Shaped by and in turn shaping our national institutions is our character as a people: stubborn, stoical, indignant at injustice. "The Saxon," wrote Kipling, "never means anything seriously till he talks about justice and right."

Not for the first time, we have been slow - perhaps too slow - to wake up to the threat we face. Now is the time to "talk about justice and right", and to act on our words.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/3618632/Ten-core-values-of-the-British-identity.html, 25.03.2011

Notes:

¹ atrocity [ə'trOsəti] – жестокость, зверство, злодеяние

² perpetrate ['pq:pitreit] – совершать, быть ответственным за

³ buy into – поверить

⁴ notion – представление, понятие

⁵ set out – идентифицировать

⁶ coercion [kəu'WS(ə)n] – принуждение, насилие

⁷ immanent – имманентный (внутренне присущий какому-л. пред-мету, явлению, проистекающий из его природы)

⁸ anglosphere – англосфера (совокупность стран, в которых английский является единственным или одним из официальных языков, и в которых основные культурные, правовые, политические и иные приоритеты исторически связаны с традиционным британским ценностями и соответствуют им)

XI. These extracts from the special series of guide-books present an ironical depicting of the English and Scottish people given by the British writers. Skim them through and do the following assignments.

a) Render these extracts in English and then express your opinion on the contents.

b) Answer the following questions.

1. Do you think people should be so futile while discussing such serious matters of their national identity?

2. Do your opinions of Englishmen and Scots coincide with the authors’ veiwpoints?

3. Did you find any character traits to be similar with the ones of the Russians?

4. Do you suppose the authors to be correct when speaking of nations in such a derisive tone?

5. How would you briefly describe the Russians?

c) Find similar information about the Welsh and Irish people and discuss it during the next class with your group-mates.