Contemporary Britain. John Oakland. A survey with texts. London and New York

Transcription

1 Contemporary Britain A survey with texts John Oakland London and New York

2 Preface Acknowledgements xi xiii Contemporary Britain: the context 1 Decline 4 1 Britain in Decline, Andrew Gamble 4 The Establishment 10 2 'Large bottoms rule, okay?', Robert Harris 10 3 John Patten 12 4 Paddy Ashdown 13 Centralization and democracy 15 5 'Party of freedom has shackled us all to the state', Simon Jenkins 16 6 '"Cool Britannia" looks more like Fool Britannia', Philip Bowring 19 7 The Essential Anatomy of Britain: Democracy in Crisis, Anthony Sampson 20 Models of British society 21 8 Understanding Post-War British Society, James Obelkevich and Peter Catterall 21 Exercises 27 Further reading 28 Notes 28 Images of Britain 29 External images 30 1 'An Italian in London', Beppe Severgnini 30 2 'The making of cruel Britannia', John Lloyd 35 3 'Nothing cool about being coarse', Michael Elliott 38

3 Internal images 4 'Cool it', Philip Norman 41 5 'Rebranding rationale', Mark Leonard 43 6 'Britain is on a roll, whatever popstars say', Tony Blair 45 Contrasting images 7 'A tale of two nations', Stryker McGuire and William Underhill 48 8 'This insidious urge to reshape Britain', Stephen Glover 51 9 'The bit of politics that led Ben Elton astray', Melvyn Bragg 53 The people's images 10 'Going soft? Britain is still a nation of hard-headed people', David Smith 55 Exercises 57 Further reading 58 Notes National identities Britishness 1 'British unity in diversity', Mary Ann Seighart 61 2 'Disunited we stand', Brian Deer 64 Tensions 3 'Hooked on hatred of the English', Fergus Kelly 70 4 The Wearing of the Green, Dion Boucicault 74 Change and reaction 5 'Unpeeling the Orange', Peter Taylor 76 6 'Scotland rouses the beast of English nationalism', Andrew Neil 78 7 'Mongrels not Angles', Matthew Parris 81 Public opinion 8 'Confident Celts put England in shade...', Mark Henderson Exercises 88 Further reading 88 Notes Political ideologies The Labour Party 1 'The strangest Tory ever sold', The Economics 92 2 'Ideology: beyond left and right', The Economist 95 3 'Third Way, Old Hat', Ross McKibbin

4 v!i The Conservative Party 99 4 'Mods and Rockers: the real division in the Tory party: and the right course', The Times 'Hague pledges to remake Tories', Philip Webster 104 The Liberal Democrats 'Turn left for No. 10', Simon Jenkins 'Kennedy's dilemma. The Liberal Democrats' new leader cannot face all ways', The Times 'A sickness at the heart of our nation', Charles Kennedy 114 Exercises 116 Further reading Notes Constitutional reform 119 The British Constitution 'Reclaiming Britain's constitution...', The Economist 'Democracy's second age', Tony Blair 124 Devolution 'A house devolved against itself, Lord Mackay of Clashfern 'Devolution is not a revolution', Lord Irvine of Lairg 'Weakening the ties of a United Kingdom', The Daily Mail 'Blair's brave new Britain is a catastrophe', David Davis 'A federal Britain', The Economist 137 The House of Lords 'True peers are made not born', Jack Straw 'The secret enemies of democracy', Ivor Richard 'This House is built on solid ground', Geoffrey Howe 144 Civil liberties 'Why Britain needs a Bill of Rights', The Economist 'Need to know', The Times 150 Exercises 757 Further reading 752 Notes 752 Britain and the world 154 Foreign policy 'Nudging between Row and Kowtow', John Lloyd 156

5 viii Europe and the European Union 'Do we need Europe?...', John Lichfield 'Europe? Oh, don't mention it, Mr Blair', William Hague 162 The Euro (common currency) debate 'A big con', The Sun 'The wrong continent', Larry Elliott 168 The Commonwealth 'A dysfunctional family?', Magnus Linklater 172 Defence policy and NATO 'The army: over-stretched and over there...', The Economist 'Nato is still our sword and shield...', William Rees-Mogg 179 Exercises 782 Further reading 782 Notes 782 Central social institutions The welfare state 1 'Why Britain needs a new welfare state', Tony Blair 185 Social security 2 'Darling's anniversary', The Economist 189 Poverty 3 'Labour's crusade', The Economist 192 The National Health Service (NHS) 4 'The Health Service at 50', The Economist 'Blair is driving us out of the NHS, says doctors' chief, Jenny Hope 'An unhealthy state', The Sunday Times 201 Education 7 'Why schools must do better', Tony Blair 'Time's up for schools that fail', David Blunkett 'Education, education, education', The Economist 'Higher education - a fraud or worth every penny?', John O'Leary 212 Exercises 274 Further reading 275 Notes

6 . ; '" IX 8 Social behaviour and 'moral panics' 216 Teenage pregnancies and drugs 'Drug-taking Britain is "worst in Europe"', Victoria Fletcher and Ian Brodie 218 Crime and the fear of crime 'Bolt-down Britain', Tim Rayment 219 Marriage 'Pupils taught marriage is "just one option" for family life', Judith O'Reilly 224 Racism 'Is Britain really a nation of racists?', Stephen Bevan and Nicholas Rufford 'We should shut down the race industry', Melanie Phillips 234 Moral concern 'Our moral wasteland...', David Selbourne 'Teenage mums are all our business...', Tony Blair 240 Religious behaviour 'O go all ye faithful', Rebecca Fowler 'All God's children', Rebecca Fowler 246 Exercises 249 Further reading 249 Notes 250 Index 251