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Newspapers in Britain

The British people are great readers of newspapers. There are few homes to which at least one paper is not delivered every morning. Many households have two, or even three newspapers every day.

As in other countries, newspapers in Great Britain differ greatly in their ways of presenting the news. There are serious papers for those who want to know about important happenings everywhere. There are popular newspapers for those who prefer entertainment to information. There are newspapers whose pages are largely filled with news of sport and with stories of film stars, or accounts of crime and of law court trials.

The London newspapers that is best known outside Britain is probably The Times. It began in 1785.

The correspondence columns of The Times are interesting and often amusing. Most of the letters are on serious objects, but from time to time there will be a long correspondence on a subjectthat is not at all serious, perhaps on a new fashion of dress, or the bad manners of the younger generation compared with the manners of thirty years ago.

The Times, of course, does not publish the strip cartoons that are so common in the cheaper and popular papers. It does, however, publish a cross-word puzzle every day, with clues that are both clever and amusing.

The Sunday papers are not Sunday editions of the daily papers, even if as is sometimes the case, the owners are the same. Two of them, The Observer and The Sunday Times, have a high standing. The Sunday Times has no connection with the daily paper called The Times. The Observer, started in 1791, is the oldest Sunday paper in Britain.

These papers provide, in addition to the news, interesting articles on music, drama, the cinema, newly published books, and gardening. Many of the best critics write for these two papers.

(From Oxford Progressive English for Adult Learners by Hornby)

Parliamentary chambers

People outside Great Britain believe, that if a man is elected to sit.in Parliament, he ought to have a seat. Indeed, most Parliaments provide each member not only with seat, but with a reserved seat, often a desk, in which papers can be kept.

Why, then, when the opportunity came after the war to rebuild the bombed House of Commons did its members decide that their own Chamber should, like the pre-war Chamber, be too small to provide seats for all of them?

The new House of Commons has many improvements, including air-conditioning and provision of microphones. It has, however, seats for about two-thirds of its members. No change has been made in its shape. It is still oblong, with seats for the Government supporters on the Speaker's right and seats for the Opposition on his left. There are, facing the Speaker, cross benches for Independent members, those who do not belong to either of the two great political parties.

If we examine the kind of Chamber favoured in other countries we find that it is in some cases semi-circular. In most semi-circular Chambers a member who is called upon to speak leaves his seat and goes to a reading-desk (a tribune or rostrum) placed below the raised seat of the President. Instead of facing and addressing the chairman, as in the House of Commons, he faces and addresses the whole House.

When a member ends his speech in the House of Commons, other members stand up and face the Speaker. They try to catch his eye, for the order of speakers is not arranged in advance. The speaker decides who is to speak next. The member who is named remains standing, and speaks from the place where he has been sitting. He must address the Speaker, not the House as a whole. The only members who speak from the Clerk's table are the Government and Opposition Leaders.

Voting is a simple matter when every member has a reserved seat. In the House of Commons members have to leave their benches and walk into two corridors (called Lobbies). As they pass out they are counted by four persons – two for each side – and it may take ten or fifteen minutes before the figures are announced.

(From Oxford Progressive English for Adult Learners by Hornby)

Political parties

Turn from the Two Main Parties

The British electoral system has lost the one virtue its admirers claimed for it's – the ability to provide a stable Parliamentary majority, albeit one supported by only a minority of the voters. Despite all the pressures to encapsulate political opinion around the two main parties, their combined total of the poll, 76 per cent, was lower than at any General Election since 1929. Nevertheless between them they captured 94 per cent of the seats.

The turn away from the two big parties manifested itself in 1973 at by-elections and the elections for the new Country and District Councils, with the Liberals making gains, largely at Tory expense. At its 33rd Congress in November 1973, the Communist Party warned, «Loss of Tory support has not meant an automatic increase in Labour support. There is a certain disenchantment with both major parties and the rigid two-party system, with the Liberals gaining, at least temporarily, on the local councils and in Parliament.»

The decline of support for the two big parties during the life-time of the Heath government was accompanied by the loss of confidence in the democratic institutions and in their ability to exercise effective control over the enormous power of the industrial and commercial giants operating against the general social interest.

Meanwhile the British economy was plunging into its most serious crisis for many years. The trendy, get-rich-quick merchant bankers and businessmen who leapt straight from the City boardrooms to the Cabinet room in 1970 had revealed themselves to be remarkably inept in governing the country. Accustomed to their boardroom decisions being carried out immediately by a hierarchy of flunkies, they behaved as though the electorate were theirs to command.

(The Book of Britain 1977, by Reuben Falber)

Windsor

Windsor and the surrounding district is a delightful residential locality. Apart from the existence of the Castle itself and the pomp and ceremonial with which it is at times concerned, its attractions are many. An excellent service of trains enables London to be reached in about forty-five minutes; the Great Park and Forest stretching for miles are free to those who care to walk or ride; the Thames provides boating for the Summer months; opportunities for the younger generations of both sexes abound; a large portion of the Home Park is set aside for the public recreation; several first-class golf courses are close at hand.

There are two Windsors – Old Windsor and New Windsor. The former is a village about two miles away from the town, and undoubtedly had an existence long before William the Conqueror built his stronghold on the present site of the Castle. It had been pretty well established that the Saxon Kings had a Palace at Old Windsor, which then bore the name of Wyndleshore. A township of some extent existed there prior to the Conquest, and in the Conqueror's reign it contained a hundred houses.

New Windsor grew up with the Castle. The first Charter of Incorporation was granted to the Royal Borough by Edward I, in 1276. When first incorporated it was the Country Town of Birkshire, but as its situation at an extreme end of the County was found to be inconvenient, the distinction was transferred to Reading in 1314.

From the days of Edward I until Parliamentary Representation Act of 1918 Windsor was also a Parliamentary Borough. Its right to send two representatives to the House of Commons was exercised until the Reform Act of 1867 deprived it of one of its members, and, in order that its population might be sufficiently large to allow of its retaining one representative, portions of the Village of Clewer and the Town of Eton were added to its Parliamentary area. The Act of 1918 referred to deprived Windsor of its remaining Member of Parliament, but its name is given to the Eastern Division of Birkshire.

The Town is well paved, excellently lighted and drained, and has also a capital water supply, the Waterworks being the property of the Corporation. Some of the oldest streets are rather narrow, but the main thoroughfares are for the most part fairly wide and are all well kept, while many of the buildings are of historical and architectural interest. The business portion is that nearest the Castle, while the principal residential parts are those bordering the Great Park and stretching out towards Clewer and Winkfield.

(From Official Guide to Windsor Castle, the Town and Neighbourhood of Windsor)

Farming as a science-based industry

Although agriculture will be hard-pressed to feed the many people in the world in 1984, even at the present low levels, in Britain and other European countries the increased need will not be bearly so great as for the world as a whole; the anticipated rise in population is less and the initial standard of living already high. Unlike many parts of the world, however, Britain has little or no waste land to bring into cultivation. Instead, the farms must lose land needed for housing, factories, schools, offices and roads. Another loss from the farms will be labour.

The British farmer will have to produce more or less land and with fewer men. To do so he will have to use every tool placed at his disposal by the scientist and technologist – or condemn himself to a life of slavery on an income providing a bare subsistence. There will always be some men prepared to follow this life from their love of the traditional ways on the land, but they will be in continuous danger of extinction and their numbers will undoubtedly have fallen by 1984. These farms will be family farms as the traditional methods will not allow hired labour; at the wage levels agriculture must pay to keep abreast with a general rise in productivity.

For the rest of the land the management must, by 1984, have passed into the hands of men capable of applying every branch of science and technology, including modern techniques of management. Their farms must necessarily be a size which will justify their ability, skill and energy and bring them reward sufficient to attract them from other industries anxious to buy their services. These farms will be also big enough to employ men with special skills rather than the all-round farm craftsman.

On the arable land the cultivations will be increasingly mechanized, the management and operation of the machines being the responsibility of one group of workers. Field will have to be reshaped and enlarged to make cultivations easier, with the elimination of many hedgerows. Weeds will be almost entirely controlled by means of herbicides. The use of fertilizers will be heavy but controlled. The crops will be protected against pests and diseases from seed to harvest, largely by insecticides and fungicides.

(From The World in 1984 by Sir William Slater, F.R.S. Formerly Secretary, Agricultural Research Council,

London)

A life-long passion for the sea:

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1774-1851)

Turner did not begin oils until he was about twenty-one, his first exhibited oil-painting apparently being The Fishermen at Sea, off the Needles of 1796. It is typical of Turner to have begun the medium by attacking the difficult problem of moonlight.

Profound as Turner's love of the mountains was, it was scarcely so fundamental as his love of the sea. He had been feeding his eyes on waves and storms, upon clouds and vapour. Here the value of his splendid visual memory is evident. A wave cannot be drawn slowly and stolidly; it will not sit still to have its portrait painted. For this reason most painters reduce their waves as a whole to a formula. Turner alone by constant observation and by a consequent thorough knowledge of wave forms and of the rules that they obey, has given to his seas mass and weight as well as movement. The sea in itself absorbed him, but especially the sea as it affected ships. To a sailor, and Turner was at heart a sailor, a ship is a living creature, courageous and loyal, resourceful, yet pathetically in need of help. Her curves, like those of a human figure, are beautiful because they are of use. In drawing ships Turner shows a knowledge that springs from love; his actual manual dexterity, which is always remarkable, being never more astonishing than when he is firmly yet delicately delineating masts and rigging. If Turner sympathised with ships, he sympathised equally with the men within them and loved to depict fishermen pulling at oars or sailors grappling with ropes. He only cared in fact to portray the mood of the sea as it affected the experiences of man.

After his continental tour in 1802, his eyes seemed to have been opened to the beauty of a type of English scenery that he had hitherto neglected. Up till now he had painted mainly ruins, stormy seas, and frowning mountains, now he began to choose subjects from agricultural or pastoral country and often from scenes with trees and water. If the spirit of his earlier works was akin to Byron's, this new mood might be called Wordsworthian, though Turner had probably not read Wordsworth's poetry, but ratherwas inspired, like the poet, by the spirit belonging to the age. His greatest masterpieces of the period are Windsor and Sun Rising through Vapour.

After over forty years of severe discipline as a draughtsman, his hold upon structure has began to relax; and he is now absorbed exclusively in rendering colour, light and atmosphere.

The vast total quantity of Turner's work is one of the marks of his genius.

(From English Painting from the 17th Century to the Present Day by Ch.Johnson)

Admission procedures

Students are admitted to British universities largely on the basis of their performance in the examinations for the General Certificate of Education at ordinary and advanced level. The selection procedure is rather complicated. It has been designed to combine as much freedom as possible tor the universities to choose the students they want with as much freedom as possible for students to choose the university they want. This was done by setting up in 1954 the Universities Central Council on Admissions (UCCA).

A student who wants to go to university usually applies tor admission before he takes his Advanced level examinations. First of all he must write to the Universities Central Council on Admissions and they send him a form which he has to complete. On this form he has to write down the names of six universities in order of preference. He may put down only two orthree names, stating that if not accepted by these universities he would be willing to go to any other. This form, together with an account of his out-of-school activities and references, one of which must be from the headteacher of his school, is then sent back to the UCCA.

The UCCA sends photocopies of the form and enclosures to the universities concerned. Each applicant is first considered by the university admission board. In some cases the board sends the applicant a refusal. This may happen, for example, if the board receives a form in which their university already has many candidates. If there are no reasons for immediate refusal, the university admission officer passes the candidate's papers on to the academic department concerned. One or two members of this departmentwill then look at the candidate's application: see what he says about himself, look at his marks at the ordinary level examinations, see what his headteacher and other referee say about him. On the basis of this, the department may make the candidate an offer (either a definite offer or a conditional one) or send him a definite rejection. A definite offer is usually made if the candidate has already two passes atAdvanced level.

The minimum requirement for admission is a pass in four subjects at Ordinary level and in two subjects at Advanced level, but most universities demand three passes at Advanced level.

When the Advanced level examination results come out in August, the university admissions sends him a definite offer. The candidate must accept or refuse within 72 hours.

 (From Essential English for Foreign students by C.S. Eckersley)

* * *

Edward was not only king of England. He was duke of Aquitaine and as such ruled a French province that stretched from the Charente to the Pyrenees and at one time had constituted nearly half the area of France. Inherited from his great-grandmother, Henry ll's queen, much of it had been ceded in the past half century to the kings of France, as a result partly of war and partly of legal processes brought by their lawyers. But with its famous vineyards and export of wine and corn, what remained – known as the duchy of Gascony – was still one of the richest fiefs in Europe. Though nominally subject to the French king, for nearly all practical purposes it was an independent domain and Edward's rule so long as he could command the allegiance of its turbulent nobility and prosperous burghers. He had governed it as his father's viceroy in his youth and on his way home from the crusade had spent a winter in its capital, Bordeaux, settling its troubled affairs and internecine wars. But it was now twelve years since he had visited it. Having conquered Wales and restored order in London, he sailed from Dover for Calais in May 1286 with his queen, chancellor and a splendid train.

At Paris, on his way south, Edward did homage to the new seventeen-year-old king, his cousin Philip the Fair, receiving back his fief from his hands according to the rules of feudal tenure. He safeguarded his rights and the limitation of his allegiance by the non-committal phrase he had used while doing homage to the young king's father, Philip the Bold, after his own accession twelve years before: «My lord king, I become your man for all the lands I ought to hold of you according to the form of the peace made between our ancestors». For now, as then, he was resolved to offer no loophole to the cunning jurists of the parliament of Paris who were always trying to enlarge their master's rights by whittling down those of his feudatories. He even succeeded in extracting from his royal cousin a promise that no more encroachments on his territories should be made by the French courtsduring his life-time, even when their verdictwas against him.

(From The Age of Chivalry by Arthur Bryant)

The country mouse and the city mouse

Once upon a time a city mouse visited his cousin in the country. The country mouse shared his simple but wholesome food. Peas, barley, tasty roots were stored in the mouse's home in the field – and another store of food in the big farmer's barn – for when it rained.

«I find the countryside charming,» the city mouse said to this open-hearted cousin, «but your food is so plain, and your home quite dreary.»

«Do come to the city and live with me, we shall play in my luxurious home – and will have a banquet each day – all the delicacies your heart desires.»

So they left the blossoming green country-side to the busy, yes, even frightening city. The noise, the traffic, the hurrying, bustling crowds jostling each other was almost too much for the simple country mouse.

«Here we are at last,» said the sophisticated city mouse as they entered into a huge towering mansion.

The house was elegant... chandeliers, deep carpets, plush furniture – and a pantry that was full of the best food ever seen. Swiss cheese, salty bacon, delicious fruits, colourful vegetables, jellies and fresh biscuits – all were there, ready to eat.

Hungry from long journey, the city mouse and the country mouse began their feast, tasting one mouth-watering bit of food after another.

Suddenly a heavy door slammed, loud footsteps of big boots were heard – the threatening deep purr of an angry cat chilled the air.

«What was that?» the country mouse stuttered.

«Oh, that is the master with his big cat.»

«Good-by, cousin,» the country mouse squealed as he leaped through the hole in the pantry wall. «I'm going backto the meadow in the country. I prefer to live with the woods, the tall mountains and the fresh gurgling streams rather than in your exciting city.»

Th e M о ra l

A simple meal eaten in peace is better than a banquet eaten in fear and trembling.

(From Aesop Fables, compiled by J.N. Quinter)

* * *

«How do you feel, Tenente?»1 Piani asked. We were going along the side of a road crowded with vehicles and troops.

«Fine.»

«I'm tired of this walking.»

«Well, all we have to do is walk now. We don't have to worry.»

«Bonello was a fool.»

«He was a fool all right.»

«What will you do about him, Tenente?»

«I don't know.»

«Can't you just put him down as taken prisoner?»

«I don't know».

«You see if the war went on they would make bad trouble for his family.»

«The war won't go on», a soldier said. «We are going home. The war is over.»

«Everybody's going home.»

«We're all going home.»

«Come on, Tenente,» Piani said. He wanted to get past them.

«Tenente? Who's Tenente? A basso gli ufficiali!2 Down with the officers!»

Piani took me by the arm. «I better call you by your name,» he said. «They might try and make trouble. They've shot some officers.» We worked up past them.

«I won't make a report that will make trouble for his family,» I went on with our conversation.

«If the war is over it makes no difference,» Piani said. «But I don't believe it's over. It's too good that it should be over.»

«We'll know pretty soon,» I said.

«I don't believe it's over. They all think it's over but I don't believe it.»

«Ewiva la Pace!»3 a soldier shouted out. «We're going home!»

«It would be fine if we all went home,» Piani said. «Wouldn't you like to go home?» «Yes.»

1 (It.) – lieutenant

2 (It.) – Down with the officers!

3 (It.) – Long live peace!

(From A Farewell to Arms, by E. Hemingway)