Britain in Close-up

Chapter 1: A sense of identity

The state’s complete title is: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. England, its bigger region, exists since 1,000 years, before any other European country. Wales was fully incorporated in the 16^th century but Britain, as a political unit, was set just in 1707, when the kingdoms of England and Scotland were united. Ireland got finally incorporated in 1921. Even 300 years after the creation of the modern layout of the UK, the official term “British” or “Britain” could seem very artificial because the UK is a land of great differences both geographical and anthropological because each shire (or county) owns its own identity.

The core and the periphery

From ancient times the UK’s economic pole has been the southeast of the country. Thus the country is divided through concentric arches from there. The first has got a 60 Miles radius and this region is called the “Inner Core”. The second one is the “Outer Core” (180 Miles), then there are the “Inner Periphery” (300 Miles) and at last the “Outer Periphery” which is the remaining part of the UK. The main part of the population lives in the southeast (over 1/3), but also in the Midlands and in the north of England, as a result of industrialisation. However, the demographic distribution is changing and the outer core and the inner periphery are supposed to see their population growing within 10 years.

The north-south divide

There are mutual prejudices between those who live in the north and those who live in the south of the country and the division line is set on the borderline between Wales and England. The division brings out the differences in earnings (much bigger in the south), health (people in the north tend to drink and smoke more than those in the south), the rate of absenteeism from school, school examination results, birth outside marriage, school dropout, and rates of unemployment: all these elements show profound social and economic problems. Especially for this last reason, many from the north moved to the south (while there’s a great reluctance to move from south to north) in order to seek a job (even if housing was much more expensive so that many had to waive).

Logically there are many exceptions to this sharp division: Toyota and Nissan, for example, chose the periphery as an area of major investing. Greater London is home to 7 million people and a workplace for another million. Yet its richness contrasts with the fact that 7 of its 32 boroughs are among the poorest 10 in whole Britain.

Cities and towns

80% of Britons live in towns or cities and on average prefer living in the countryside, for example moving out of the so-called London “suburbia” into villages or towns of the “Green Belt” in the 70s and 80s. This was due both to the rise of house prices in the London area and to the low life quality in large cities. These people had however to remain close to their workplace but began to look further afield. Finally, there was another category growing: those who, thanks to information technologies, could work “outposted” in lower-cost locations or at home. The greatest small towns growing rate takes place in the southeast. The danger for British large cities is the impoverishment of inner areas due to the growth of large shopping centres which make the high street shops old-fashioned.

"Sunset" and "sunrise" areas

The UK can be divided in another way: into sunset and sunrise areas. The former are those in which present stagnation and where traditional industries have collapsed during the last 30 years whereas the latter are those which present a development and there’s significant new economic activity. These are normally set in the outer core but there are some also in the north.

Town and country

The pressure created by the steady growth of towns has been felt especially in the southeast zone countryside but almost all the rural England has been affected by it since large numbers of middle-class families have begun to buy cottages in the country either to live in or to use as holiday homes, urbanising in this way some “Green Belt” land. These have become “commuters” (people who live in the village but work elsewhere). The geography of villages has utterly changed from the one of 50 years ago when they were much smaller and populated just by farmers: rural population has increased but the urban one has remained static.

Some areas of the country (such as the Lake District or the national parks) feel also the tourism’s pressure. In the UK there has probably been a harder exploitation than in any other European Country because of intensive farming through mechanised means and chemical fertilisers (which pollute rivers thus destructing fish and wildlife) but we also have to remind that even the national parks have been man-modified in order to please the tourists’ taste.

Rich and poor

The countryside remains an area of high unemployment and thus poverty. But rural poverty has always been shadowed by the larger problem of the urban one of the run-down areas. In Britain poverty seems to have increased more than in any other European country, also because of the tax system, which rewards the richest, thinking that the more one earns, the more he has been productive in society. The gap between rich and poor is getting wider and wider.

Chapter 2: The system of government

Britain is a democracy, but its people are not in control of the state: the power is exercised by the two chambers of the Parliament (House of Lords and House of Commons), with the supervision of the Crown; the Queen, boss of the Crown, receives her power from the Parliament, so she does “reign”, but technically she doesn’t “rule”. This situation came out from the continuous struggles between Crown and Parliament in the XVII century when finally the Parliament took the power over and gave the Crown a minor role in politics: the funny thing is, that no constitution has been written in all these years, so Britain is ruled by conventions and unwritten rules.

The Crown

The Monarch is the head and the symbol of the state for the world, and it is Britain’s oldest institution, broken only once, and just for 11 years. Monarchy is hereditary, and the oldest male child must succeed the actual King or Queen in the event of death (if no male is present, the power goes to the oldest female child): the Monarch must also be a Protestant, since it is the head of the Church of England, and also of the army, the executive and the judiciary powers. The monarch must also sign laws made by Parliament, can appoint public officials, confer honours, make war and peace, even if these tasks are usually decided by the Parliament, if the Monarch does not want to. Except from the international visibility, which is of course an important part of being King or Queen, the Monarch must also be consulted for matters of national importance.

Whitehall – the seat of government

Whitehall lies in Downing Street, and it’s the hub of the Government, ruled by an elected chief of the majority: today government is made just from one political party, but in the past things were different, coalitions were more possible than nowadays. The most important part of the government is the Cabinet, formed by about 20 senior ministers plus the Prime Minister, who is the political and charismatic leader of the Cabinet: he or she should be “first among equals”, but in fact the Prime Minister has got a strong political status, and ministers must obey his or her will, or try to force their point of view, risking a clash of wills and the subsequent resigning of the minister.

Even if the government is essentially political, an important role is played by the Civil Service, that is practically, the physical “hand” of the Cabinet: Civil Servants must be loyal to the government and their tasks are to apply its decisions. The heart of this institution is the Cabinet Office, ruled by a permanent Secretary; the two institutions, Government and Civil Service, are practically made to control each other.

Westminster – the seat of Parliament

Parliament is worldwide known as “Westminster”, name of the palace which hosts this ancient institution; it's made by two Houses, that once had different powers, while now the difference is not so clear. The role of the Parliament is to make laws but, without a constitution, it could really make anything it would want to: the only guarantee against this event is the reasonableness of its members. For the House of Commons is formed by members of the government, they are practically free to introduce the laws they want, in the 5-year time of a Parliament’s life (even if it can be dissolved before); some people say that the Parliament is an “elective dictatorship”. Its functions are of course to create laws, but also to fix taxes and control the government.

The electoral system

UK is, for electoral purposes, divided into constituencies, each electing a candidate to sit in the House of Commons: voting is not compulsory, and it is allowed to every British 18-or-more years old citizen, if not disqualified for medical or criminal causes. If the candidate is elected he sits in the House of Commons and, in the event of resignation or death, its constituency must choose another representative; candidates are often pushed by a political party, in order for politicians to have the majority of “pawns” into the House of Commons, that is, having the possibility to rule over the country, in fact.

The party system

The political system is nowadays divided into two parties: the Tories (Conservative Party), that is the patriotic party of the Right, and the Labour (Liberal Party), the party of the Left. The Tories give great importance to law and order and are often supported by the wealthier classes, while the Labour declare themselves as less tied to capitalism and political interest, they search for social justice and achievement of everyone’s well-being; they are often supported by middle classes.

The House of Commons

The House of Commons represents England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland; its shape is not semicircular, like everywhere else in Europe, but it’s rectangular, with the President (or Speaker) at one end: at his right sit the members of the Government, and his left the members of the Opposition, while other members are in the so-called “back-benches”. The Speaker is chosen by a vote of both parties and must be impartial: he is also assisted by three Deputy Speakers.

The House of Lords

The House of Lords is not democratically elected, because it’s divided into peers, the majority of which are hereditary or “life peers”, and only a few of these are women. In this House sit also the “Law Lords”, 9 of the most senior judges, and the “Lords Temporal”, 26 among senior bishop and archbishop of the Church of England. The role of the House of Lords is to control over-zealous governments, by putting their veto on bills or laws proposed by the House of Commons or by the government. This House is presided over by the Lord Chancellor, who is not impartial, because he or she is a government officer, and this position allows him/her to sit in the Cabinet; often the members of this House give their votes to Tories, so Labours often consider this institution anachronistic.

Parliamentary procedure

Each parliamentary session begins with the arrival of the Queen from Buckingham Palace, for a ceremonial speech, which is drafted by the actual government: in the next days the opposition can add amendments, if it wants to: this speech is a statement of policy. The Parliament usually does a meeting every weekday afternoon, and the debates are public, so press or television can assist the meetings; however, a record of the proceedings is published daily.

Every meeting day begins with Question Time, where Government and Opposition can exchange questions, trying to reveal each other’s weaknesses; after this hour, the main debate of the day takes place, and the argument is selected by both the Leader of the House and the Prime Minister; at the end of the debate, the Speaker asks if there are disagreements to the motion and, in this case, members of the Parliament have to vote.

The main task of the Parliament is to make laws: a bill, usually public, is drafted by the Parliament in form of “white papers” or “green papers”, before going under the gaze of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, in which the proceeding is similar: the bill goes under three “readings” and then, if approved, is sent to the Monarch for the Royal Assent.

Parliamentary committees

In both Houses committees are formed to consider specific matters or bills: the Commons have some “standing committees”, and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are represented by these. Since 1979 a “select committee” system has been created, i.e. 17 individual committees that check the expenditure, administration and the policy of the main government departments.

Chapter 3: Government and politics: Debate and change

The monarchy

The British monarchy is a good example of tradition: since it has lost power in the mid-XIX century, Queen Victoria settled down many rituals, to make the Crown be seen as an example of the perfect family in the difficult times of the Industrial Revolution. The Monarchy conserved this charismatic power in the time, and its members are still a loved symbol of the nation. When in 1952 Queen Elizabeth II was crowned, she was already so popular that people respected her more than her father the King; under the kingdom of Elizabeth, the Royal Family life has been opened to the public, via television and press, so that everyone was stimulated in knowing more of the Family’s secret life: when Prince Charles was searching for a bride, the public opinion was omnipresent. As Charles finally married the 19-year-old Diana Spencer, the wedding became the mostly ever seen event on TV!

The monarchy, often seen as obsolete, has always been an important part for national identity, and has acquired an almost religious importance for many British; nowadays, however, by letting the daylight come into the life of the Royal Family, this magic and sense of tradition that surrounded the Crown has been lost, and it is falling into ridicule. The Crown reacquired dignity with Lady Diana and her lovely character, and she was really loved by the public, even if not seen as well from the Windsor family.

The Monarchy had to face also other problems, like the troubles some members of the Crown had with Margaret Thatcher’s (Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990) politics or the cost of maintaining the family, overall when Windsor Castle burned down in 1992: from now then, even the Royal Family pays taxes. But 1992 was a terrible year for the Crown: there were a lot of divorces and scandals, like the revelations on Diana’s secret relationships: this caused her and Charles to divorce in 1996, and it was discovered that also Charles had a long-term relationship with Camilla Parker-Bowles. One year later Diana, dismissed from the Royal Family, died in a car crash, and this touched a lot Britain: people loved her because she had what was in the Windsors was lacking, so the Crown itself had to change and to search for a closer contact with citizens, to avoid them choosing a republic instead of a new King, which could be Charles, but also William or Harry, Charles and Diana’s sons.

The constitution

In the eighteenth century Britain was the most democratic model in Europe, but is it still so? Actually it isn’t, because the lack of a written constitution allows the government, which has the majority of the Commons, not to be disturbed from any authority or Monarch, and this situation could be a menace to democratic liberties. Some people in the past asked for a written constitution, but, since Britain entered the European Union, its government has been controlled by this institution, so the state won’t need an own Constitution: the only important thing is not to break the laws of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Reform of the House of Lords

In 1988 a group of politicians asked for the House of Lords to become a democratic and non-hereditary institution, while other people asked for its abolition, overall among Labours: but how is this possible without weakening the other House? When the Left side came to power in 1997, it promised the House of Lords to become an organ of democracy, but since then, nothing has been made.

The honours system

The present honours system is really complicated and it belongs to institutions that no more exist, but they remained in the tradition: the honour is given as a prize to people that distinguish themselves in their career, be it someone that operated greatly in Britain or some other British that has had success abroad; Prime Minister Tony Blair does want to reform this structure.

Government: the difficulties of reform

After 1960, with a growing economical problem, the two-party government seemed not to be the best for the rule of the country, so Britain tried to introduce a tripartite system of government, which hadn’t had success, like it did in other countries: it was Margaret Thatcher in 1979 that, by allowing privatisation of national industries, helped out Britain’s economy, even if her government marked the beginning of a strong ideological struggle between the parties, that the Labour Tony Blair wants to reverse. Blair’s task, however, is not that simple: the top of the system is blurred, confused, and people are beginning to think that Prime Ministers could not be skilled enough to succeed in this reform.

There are a bunch of other problems in reforming, then, like ministerial responsibility or overloads for ministers and civil servants, which have raised the hypothesis of a regional devolution for powers, and of course, there is the problem of secrecy: a Government must let people see what they’re doing, while in Britain the government is for the bigger part an hidden one, that Tony Blair has already promised to reform as soon as possible, overall for the part regarding secrecy.