Cours de civilisation anglais

1. 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

2. 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 SURFACE
England London 5109200 130395 km²
Scotland Edinburg 5062000 78782 km²
Wales Cardiff 2950000 20779 km²
Northern 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 ofstate followingschools arefunded bypublic moneyor
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.

3. LANGUAGES
1/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 platesare marked in thelanguages of the countryand the
official language. (= bilingualism)
3/Constitutional Monarchy
-Queen Elizabeth 2
-Parliament = House of Commons and House of Lords = Westminster
4/British Prime Minister

4. 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).

5. 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).

6. 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

7. 16/State schools
17/Eton college, Windsor

8. 18/Harrow school

9. 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.

10. 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).

11. 25/Cambridge university
26/Oxford university

12. 27/Universities around the country
University Nottingham
University East Anglia Norwich
University Manchester

13. 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/…………………………..

14. 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 (organismegouvernemental) 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

15. -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.

16. 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.

17. 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 state
2- Head of the executive, judiciary and legislature
3- Supreme governor’ of the Church of England
4- 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 party
2- The Queen doesn’t write her annual speech to Parliament; she reads a speech
written by the PM
3- 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).

18. 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 OFFICE
2- FOREIGN SECRETARY = FOREIGN OFFICE
3- CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER = FINANCE MINISTER
4- LORD CHANCELLOR = MINISTRY OF JUSTICE
5- 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/theHouse 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.

19. 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.