What's life like in the U.K.?

[Greg Truby]

Gabriel, my twelve-year-old son has to do a school project on a foreign country and he picked the U.K. Item #14 is:

"Write a one page paper on what it is like to live in your country today. Include religion, education, food, sports and recreation."

So... anyone want to give Gabriel some thoughts on part (or all) of this question?

Of course, if you have a link you think does a good job of answering this, that too would help. I let him search for a while and he struggled on this one. And I myself have googled quite a bit, but haven't hit anything that I thought did a great job of it. I had thought that articles targeting expats and "what to expect if moving to the U.K." would be a good source. But frankly I ain't that impressed.

Much obliged to anyone who wants to respond!

 

[cornflakegirl]

Religion: the UK has a christian heritage and in the 10 yearly census, most respondents describe themselves as christian. There is an established church, the Church of England, of which the Queen is the supreme head. Bishops in the Church of England sit in the House of Lords (the upper house of Parliament). Christmas Day, Good Friday and Easter Monday are 3 of our 8 bank holidays. However, the country is pretty secular really; church attendance is somewhere under 10% I think.

There is a growing Muslim population; we have a strong colonial link with India and Pakistan, so a fairly big immigrant / 2nd generation / 3rd generation community. The Muslim community have a tendency to be (portrayed as being) more vocal about defending their faith. Tabloid newspapers like the Daily Mail regularly have articles about how organisations are happy to offend Christians but wouldn't dare offend Muslims (eg when Jerry Springer The Opera was on there were comments about the Jesus figure, and how it wouldn't be allowed if it was Mohammed being ridiculed). However most people are pretty tolerant of each other, and you can hold pretty much whatever beliefs you want to as long as you don't try to ram them down everyone's throat.

 

[Patience]

Ooh - I would totally like to help but I gotta dash - can I answer tomorrow?

 

[cornflakegirl]

This looks like a pretty good overview of the education system. Although it is slightly out-of-date; as of the school year that started in September 2008, children who are just starting secondary school (age 11) or younger will be required to stay in school / vocational training till 17.

 

[Greg Truby]

Ooh - I would totally like to help but I gotta dash - can I answer tomorrow?

Alas, he must turn this in tomorrow and he loses 5 points per day for tardiness. I do wish the lad told me of the difficulty he was having with this item earlier. Thank you nonetheless, Bryony. And THANK YOU, Emma!

Now, what about the rest of you good people over yonder?

BTW, Gabriel asked me: "If the country is called "the United Kingdom" then what do you call the individual components of it?" I.e. what do you call England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland? I know it's not "state" like we use or "province" like Canadians use. The only term I was able to find was "countries" as well. Is that the correct term?

 

[VoG]

There's a lot here on religion, education, sports and food (and more) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_Kingdom-related_topics

P.S. Yep - we call them countries.

 

[cornflakegirl]

This Wikipedia page on English food is pretty good. Regional specialities in Scotland / Wales / Ireland are different, but given it's a one page thing, he could probably get away with it - maybe throw in a mention of haggis (Scotland)...

 

[cornflakegirl]

And yes, the individual parts are countries too.

 

[Richard Schollar]

Yes - England is a country, so is Wales and Scotland. I don't know if Northern Ireland counts a country though - it may be a Province. National identity is very strong. If Scotland were to play virtually any other country at footbal I suspect most English would be supporting the other side

Sport is very much football focused (as in soccer) although rugby and cricket are also popular. It is traditional to lament every early July how the top British tennis player just failed to make the grade at Wimbledon.

 

[riaz]

BTW, Gabriel asked me: "If the country is called "the United Kingdom" then what do you call the individual components of it?" I.e. what do you call England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland? I know it's not "state" like we use or "province" like Canadians use. The only term I was able to find was "countries" as well. Is that the correct term?

The proper name, I believe, is United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The United Kingdom is a unitary state consisting of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

On 1 May 1707, the Kingdom of Great Britain was created by the political union of the Kingdom of England (which included Wales) and the Kingdom of Scotland. This event was the result of the Treaty of Union that was agreed on 22 July 1706, and then ratified by both the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland each passing an Act of Union in 1707. Almost a century later, the Kingdom of Ireland, already under English control by 1691, joined the Kingdom of Great Britain with the passing of the Act of Union 1800. Although England and Scotland had been separate states prior to 1707, they had been in personal union since the Union of the Crowns in 1603, when James VI King of Scots had inherited the throne of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and moved his court from Edinburgh to London.

Most of the above is from Wikipedia