Posted: June 4th, 2015

Differences in opinion between sources and faculty should encourage intellectual independence

  • Must use class notes and the textbook for the course (Andrew Marr, A History of Modern Britain). The first page of notes is about the paper and the suggested direction of the paper. Other sources to use:
    -Kathleen Burk, The British Isles since 1945
    -Nigel Knight, Governing Britain since 1945
    -Richard Weight, Patriots: National Identity in Britain 1940-2000
    -Mark Garnett and Richard Weight, Modern British History: The Essential A-Z Guide
    -Paul Addison, No Turning Back: The Peacetime Revolutions of Post-War Britain
    -Andrew Adonis and Stephen Pollard, A Class Act: The Myth of Britain’s Classless Society
    -Ferdinand Mount, Mind the Gap: The New Class Divide in Britain
    -Ashely Jackson, The British Empire: A Very Short Introduction
    -Robert Peston, How Do We Fix This Mess
    ONLINE SOURCES:
    -https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/overview_1945_present_01.shtml
    -https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/endofempire_overview_01.shtml
    -https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/thatcherism_01.shtml
    -https://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/1216
    -https://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/287
  • Second topic
    • This is easier and more open
    • Talk about anything we’ve talked about
    • How do you measure success? Is it just economic growth? Is it social integration? Is it the role of women in society? Is it sporting success?
    • If you measure it in sports UK isn’t much of a success
    • Focus on two topics (class and gender, gender and race, etc.) maybe focus on 3 main areas
  • Paper
    • Short punchy intro where you tell what the main areas we are looking at
    • In first third of paper give some historical background
    • Want extra research
    • Central 3rd of paper should be me analyzing has Britain been a success story
    • Wants to know what we think, doesn’t want people to tell him back what he said
    • He wants intelligent supposition
    • Conclusion should be a bit longer than introduction, should be 2 or 3 paragraphs
    • Speculative conclusion, do more than summarize
    • Say where you think Britain is going in near future
    • Comparative analysis with America for an A grade
    • Need citations/footnotes
    • More research=better grade
    • To cite lecture put name of professor, date, and subject

 

  • Course Objectives
    • To provide an academic understanding of contemporary Britain.
    • The history of the present: how did we get here?
  • Approach:
    • Five themes: 1) society, 2) culture, 3) economics, 4) domestic politics, and 5) external relations
    • Three lecturers with an explicit aim of encouraging interconnections and debate between themes.
    • Differences in opinion between sources and faculty should encourage intellectual independence
  • Assessment Methods
    • 70%; a 1,500-word essay (c. 5 pages), which is due by 9 am on Tuesday of week four (9 June). The essay will be graded and returned during the internship phase of the program.
    • Note that there is a 3% penalty deduction per day for this element of the final grade if the essay is submitted after the deadline
    • There is a one-hour seminar devoted to discussing these two essay questions
    • To what extent is the Britain of today still shaped by the impact of the Second World War?
    • Should today’s Britain be viewed as a success story? (Consider in relation to the challenges faced since 1945)
    • Andrew Marr: A History of Modern Britain (textbook)
    • Four sources: lecture, textbook, films, field trips
    • 30%, two-hour quiz, 50 questions (10 from today’s lecture), not expected to get a 100, grade on a curve
  • Does class still matter in Britain? Bob’s your uncle
    • Bob’s your uncle speaks to the passing of privilege through generations
  • Post-war Prime ministers (ON QUIZ, look at pictures)
    • Anthony Eaton – thought good idea to top off Egyptian government and not tell Americans, US refused to deal with British conservative government until this man resigned
    • Harold Milland – resigned in 1963
    • Home – took over after Milland
    • David Cameron – current prime minister, went to Eaton then Oxford and was in an elite dining club with Boris Johnson, got PPE 1st (British 4.0)
    • All 4 were in succession and went to same school, Eaton college and Oxford University – shows Britain is elitist
  • Why class still matters? Failure of social mobility in post-1945
    • British government became more interventionist as result of Blitz
    • Jewel of interventionist state is welfare state (created during 40s)
    • More you pay in taxes should lead to more success and more social mobility because of a better education system but its not working
    • George Osborne, St. Paul’s in London and Magdalen, Oxford – Chancellor
    • Boris Johnson – studied Classics
  • Social Mobility
    • Britain has some of the lowest social mobility in the developed world
    • According to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, earnings in Britain are more likely to reflect father’s income than any other country
    • Education key engine of social mobility, but achievement not balanced fairly. For the poorest fifth in society, 46% have mothers with no qualifications at all. For the richest, it’s only 3%
    • Strong link between social mobility and inequity. UK has both. Only Portugal in Western Europe is more unequal with less social mobility.
    • Have fees on higher education now
  • Why do you think these images were so important in the 2015 election?
    • Conservatives won first overall majority in general election since 1992, first conservative cabinet since 1997 (election+5 yr term)
    • Nice kitchen is elitist, smaller kitchen is more like the common people
    • David Cameron and George Osborne out in construction area without workers, charity
  • The economy
    • Bank of England, UK central bank, established 1694
    • Interest rates have been at a record low of 0.5% since March 2009
    • Examples of previous rates: July 2007=5.75%; June 1998=7.50%; Oct 1989=14.88%; Oct 1981=15.13%
    • Why low interest rates? National debt has risen from 43% GDP in 2007/8 to 88% in 2015
    • Consequence of “credit crisis” which began in the UK in Sept 2007 with run on Northern Rock
    • Government intervened to rescue huge players in banking sector
    • Age of austerity since – politics of curbing public spending to pay off national debt
    • London and south-east performing well under austerity measures, rest of UK struggling. London is pulling up UK as a whole to make Britain one of the fastest growing economies in Europe
    • London as a node point in globalization
    • What do you think of the political implications are to this north-south divide?
    • UK recovering faster than other European countries from crisis, not suffering from Eurozone crisis
  • HS2: Highspeed 2: Initially London to Birmingham, and then on to Leeds and Manchester by 2033
    • Attempt at a greater inter-connectedness within UK to latch on to London’s inter-connectedness in world
  • Housing crisis – house supply problem
    • Huge imbalance between supply and demand
    • Biggest immigration wave in 2004 (3-4M), not enough houses
    • In 2004 UK joined EU
    • Good thing they immigrated but not enough houses
    • Nation of home-owners becoming a nation of renters
    • 2000: 74% of homes owner-occupied, 2015: 64%
    • Beveridge Report 1942 (blueprint of Welfare State) – squalor one of five giants to be tackled
    • More council homes built by Tories in 1950s than any other decade; also significant private house building
    • By 1970s more owner occupiers than renters
    • Rising population, net migration and fewer houses being built has led to demand exceeding supply: huge price inflation
    • Upshot: affordability crisis and likelihood of property bubbles
    • Only answer – more house building, but necessary political will to do this was not certainly evident in 2015 election
  • The EU, the Eurozone crisis, and the possibility of Brexit
    • EU 28 member states, 505 M people
    • Euro currency of 17 member states, first used Jan 1999 and second most traded currency in the world
    • Eurozone crisis aka European sovereign debt crisis (rising government debt levels as a result of the on-going banking crisis since 2007)
    • Politics of EU in Britain. Issue of sovereignty and where really power resides
    • Conservative election pledge for referendum on EU membership by 2017 if majority
    • Should England leave? Obama said no
    • Can they compete without backing by EU? Where does power reside? EU or Parliament?
    • Brexit
  • Nicola Sturgen – head of Scottish National Party, said to be most powerful woman in Britain
    • Scottish had first referendum since 1975 to leave UK (voted 53.3% no)
    • A conclusive victory for the union (UK), but then the SNP’s landslide in 2015 general election (winning 56 out of 59 seats in Scotland) reopened questions of Scotland’s future
    • What are the implications of the SNP vote?
    • Does is constitute pressure on Westminster to get best devolution deal possible for Scottish Parliament or is it a signal that attitudes have changed on independence since 2015 referendum?
    • Britain’s membership in EU also in doubt. Cameron has promised an in-out referendum on a renegotiated relationship (e.g. reclaiming some powers first) by 2017 if the Conservatives win next election in 2015
  • South-east needs to share prosperity, London is going to be destroyed if Scotland leaves or if UK leaves EU, economic benefits are going elsewhere
  • Will Scotland be in the UK for much longer? yes
  • Will the UK vote to stay in European Union? yes
  • By end of course be as familiar with Drizzy Rascal as Margaret Thatcher
  • Know relationship between Queen Elizabeth and Sid Vicious (member of Sex Pistols)
    • Sang God Save the Queen
    • Wore swat symbol
  • Vivian Westwood
    • Fashion designer
    • Wore swat sticker because it was most hated symbol in Britain
    • Dame
  • Richard Branson
    • Britain’s most successful entrepreneur
    • Sir
  • Benjamin Disraeli
    • Jewish PM
    • Conservative
  • George Orwell
    • Went to Eaton
    • Socialist

 

  • The US Constitution
    • Republic
    • Written Constitution
    • Separation of Powers
    • One-person Executive
    • Federal State
  • The UK Constitution
    • Monarchy
    • Unwritten Constitution
    • Parliamentary System
    • Cabinet Government
    • Unitary State
    • Part of Supranational Organization (EU)
  • Part 1: Monarchy
    • Gives speech on first Parliament opening each year, only time she wears crown
    • She doesn’t write the speech, PM does
    • Can’t sound excited because she has to sound impartial
    • People don’t like social aspect of monarchy, don’t like that the head of state is the head of state because she was born into it, emphasizes point that in UK you are born into your class
    • Has power to dismiss PM if he isn’t behaving constitutionally
    • Queen guards constitution
  • Part 2: Unwritten Constitution
    • Based on precedent
    • As long as everybody follows it then it works
    • Books (not legal books) that describe constitutional history in Britain
    • Parliamentary Sovereignty – whatever Parliament says is the law, they control everything including how they rule, they could abolish monarchy or house of commons or change how many people are in Parliament, flexible but mindset of constitution is traditionally conservative, don’t want to change anything if they don’t have to
  • Part 3: Parliamentary System
    • In theory Parliament has a lot of control, but actually they are pretty weak
    • Mixed separation of powers
    • The House of Commons (green benches) are important part of Parliament, have the real power, only elected chamber, has close relationship with executive branch
    • MP – member of Parliament, 650 MPs (?), want to reduce number but how are you going to get Parliament to pass a law to put some of them out of office
    • The House of Lords (red benches) is not elected
    • 650 districts (?), each person votes for one person and then everybody elected in each district makes up Parliament, direct voting
    • Turnout in British elections is lower than normal, now about 2/3
    • Most MPs are gray-haired white men, 29% are women and it’s the highest its ever been, 6% of Parliament is minority, but about 14% of British population are minorities
    • Nearly all MPs are middle class, so class is not well represented, MPs are now much more professional (lawyers, academics, a few businessmen, and lots of people who have been politicians their whole lives)
    • MPs used to be all businessmen who settled down after making money, so it used to be more upper class
    • No term limits, so people stay 15-20 years, oldest member is 84 and has been in Parliament ~50 years
    • MPs can claim expenses for anything necessary to do their work, a few years ago an MP leaked these charges – one charged for porn, one charged for mortgages for second homes, one charged for a duck pond supply shed at home, so now MPs have a bad name and people say they are just in it for money and are all cheats
    • People elect Parliament, and then Parliament chooses PM and they usually choose leader of the biggest party in lower house of legislature
    • People care more about their party and not about the actual MP, vote for MP who is in the party whose leader they want to be PM
    • PM has no fixed tenure, can be voted out by any day by house of commons, doesn’t usually happen because PM knows it can happen so they try and make MPs happy
    • The Legislative Process (Commons) – huge confusing flow chart with multiple readings and votes
    • House of Lords has legitimacy problems since they aren’t elected
    • Until 1999 most of the House of Lords were there by heredity
    • Ushers of churches are appointed to House of Lords by Archbishop (who is appointed by PM)
    • Queen appoints lords by advice of PM so they can appoint them from the party of commons
    • Lords are appointed for life but the title is not hereditary, it dies with them, given this title for good service to nation (top generals, admirals, surgeons, ex members of house of commons)
    • Joke and say best way to be a lord is to make a big donation to the party in control, not totally a joke
    • Average age of house of lords is 70 because you have to have done something to get appointed
    • Still have some hereditary members, only way Tony Blair could reform house of lords was to agree to keep some at least temporarily until the house was reformed
    • Some people say House of Lords debates are more interesting
      • People from different backgrounds so somebody also has something to say
      • Doctors talk about medical issues, defensive issues talked about by generals/admirals
      • Outcome of vote is less predictable because there are a lot of independents because they aren’t elected so they don’t need to claim a party
    • No PM or House of Commons wants the Lords to have power or feel legitimate, want them to be seen as weak
    • If Lords ever pass something against commons then commons would say how rude of them to against what the people want and get rid of the law
    • Some people say constitution is not satisfactory
      • House of Lords is not good
      • Once people get into power they generally stay
      • No checks and balances in system
      • Britain has elected dictatorship
    • Part 4: Cabinet Government
      • Cabinet as group is executive branch
      • PM doesn’t make decisions, group as whole makes decisions
      • PM appoints members of cabinet
      • PM controls agenda of meetings and committees
      • PM can dismiss members of cabinet (technically queen does, but she decides things on advice of PM)
      • Seems like PM has total control over the cabinet, but he doesn’t because cabinet is made up of MPs
      • PM has to appoint a few people of the other party and different opinions to balance the opinion of the party and keep everybody happy
      • If PM resigns and its in between elections, most likely person to become next PM is another member of cabinet, so the members of cabinet are PM’s biggest supporters and biggest rivals
      • Margaret Thatcher, PM 1979-90 (conservative), very aggressive
      • John Major, PM 1990-97 (conservative), pathetically weak because he only had the majority by 1 so he had to keep his party together on everything and at end of term that was very hard, ended up just doing nothing so that they wouldn’t have disagreements
      • Tony Blair, PM 1997-2007 (labour), people voted for Tony Blair even though they weren’t in labour party because they liked him so much, known as control freak of labor party, strong in everything except economic policy
      • Gordon Brown, PM 2007-10 (labor), been in charge of economic policy for 10 years and then crisis hit so his career ended and his PM term went terribly, all he wanted in life was to be PM and once he finally got it, it went horrible, Blair was smiling always and so people thought Brown was angry and gloomy, but he had reason to be upset because thinks were so bad for him, weak PM (not really his fault, more for circumstances), people blamed him for economic downturn
      • David Cameron, PM 2010-current, a lot of conservatives don’t like him, will always be a weak PM no matter what he does
      • When PM has big and united majority and party likes him and cabinet supports him, PM can be like dictator because checks and balances are behind him and everybody agrees with him
      • When PM has no majority, cabinet doesn’t like him, party doesn’t like him, he has almost no power because they say unless you do what I want I will vote against you
    • Part 5: A Unitary State (or, at least, not a federal one)
      • UK (63M): England (53M), Wales (3M), Scotland (5M), Northern Ireland (2M)
      • Nationalist parties found in 20s, started getting elected to Parliament in 60s, been growing since especially in Scotland
      • Scottish Nationalist party came about when oil was found in Scotland and so they wanted all the money from the oil to go to Scotland
      • Scottish Parliament – Scottish media focuses on Scottish parliament and not London so now it has its own political drama, SNP has majority and want independence, only 45% said they wanted independence on referendum
      • SNP just won majority in general election so people think they want independence
      • 20% of Welch people speak Welch, people don’t want government taken over by people who don’t speak their language
      • Northern Island has no flag because they can’t agree on a flag (but they can’t agree on anything), some people are Irish Nationalist (want to be part of Republic of Ireland), some are unionists
      • Northern Ireland Assembly, Stormont – similar powers to Scottish Parliament, but works differently, to get any law through you have to have majority support in unionist party and in nationalist party, cabinet has to represent every party in assembly
    • Part 6: Part of a Supranational Organization
      • EU has power to force countries to do things they wouldn’t do by themselves
      • An EU law overrides national law
      • EU just used to have agricultural and trade power and 9 countries, now its expanded a lot geographically and politically, they are involved in every branch of life
      • Top legislative body in EU is council of EU
      • Commission (appointed) proposes changes to EU law and then the council (made up of people from every member state, meets in secret) and the parliament (meets in public, but is weaker than council) makes a codecision
    • Power in EU lies with PM if cabinet is with him, essentially people, on other matters its EU, on some matters its Scottish Parliament and Irish National Assembly, British constitution is pretty complicated

 

  • Britain sings “Land of Hope and Glory” as a song of national pride but its an imperialist song
  • 79th biggest land area in the world at 93k
  • 22nd biggest population with 63M people
  • GDP 5th biggest country
  • National symbol: lion, king of the jungle
  • At its height, GB was about a quarter of the world
  • Each colony was expected to pay its own way
  • For 300M people, 150k troops
  • British empire rested on racism
    • White people esp. British people have a genius for governing that the other people don’t posses
    • Think of Americas as more racists than themselves because according to Brits the Americans were also a minority
  • Right wings would say that 70-100 years ago Britain was a global empire ruling ¼ of the world and now there just an island off of Europe and part of the EU, must’ve gone wrong in the last few years
  • Weird thing isn’t that Britain lost all these countries, its that they had them in the first place
  • Britain is only 2% of the world’s population
  • Until 16th C Britain was not an important country
    • Small island off Europe, out of the loop
  • Then get Colombian Era
  • Just wanted to make money
  • Trafalgar – British navy defeated French navy in 1805(?)
  • Britain has naval bases all around the world
    • Control Gibraltar, Suez, and most of the Mediterranean
    • Singapore
    • Hong Kong
    • Sydney
    • Falkland Islands
    • Because navy had ships all over all the oceans, explorers felt safe because the navy was around
  • Lost America because British couldn’t fight a land war in a big country, could only fight on sea
  • Britain was first industrial country
    • Cotton from the US – fabric – sold all over the world
    • Half of world trade carried in British ships
  • In 19th C took New Zealand, but besides that they didn’t go in for any new colonies because they made money by controlling trade
  • Wanted people to buy imperially and buy goods from within the empire rather than goods from other places
  • Britain in 20th C wanted peace, said we’ve taken so much of world there’s nothing else we could want and got just the opposite
  • Elephant vs. whale aka Germany vs. England aka army vs. navy
  • Germany started building big ships and England got curious why because they had a huge land army and not many colonies, so then Britain thought that Germany want new colonies
  • People thought GB would fight with France, instead of Germany
  • Steel and iron output started going up
  • Brits saw this a treat because if Germany took over France and Russia they would eventually come to Britain
  • In WWI British lost 15% of entire national debt
  • Poor people didn’t have right to vote in GB until 1918
  • Had British empire exhbitition
  • Neville Chamberlain at Munich in Munch in 1938, had to avoid a major war
  • Chamerlain was probably worst PM in Germany, everybody hated him, he tried to make piece with Hitler
  • 1940 is the biggest and worst year in history of GB because GB took over every country had them cornered
  • Countries in Africa started declaring independence
  • Robert Clive conquered Bengal 1757, tricked people into letting British take over
  • Sir Henry Havelock crushed “the Indian Mutiny” 1857
  • Mahatma Gandhi, Indian nationalist
  • A positive legacy?
    • The rule of law
    • The idea of liberty
    • Representative government
    • Christian missions
    • English as a world language
    • International trade
    • Globalization

 

  • UK real GDP has been rising, but it doesn’t count in for inflation
    • Population increasing
  • UK real earnings is rising but not as smoothly, pretty bumpy
    • Starts to decline in 2002

6th largest country by nominal GDP and 3rd in Europe, looks like they are going to overtake France

19th richest

14th best to live in

GDP per capita is $39,511 compared to US at $54,597

  • We won’t feel like we are living in a place poorer to the US because we are in London
  • Part 1: Where we are & What we do
    • UK agricultural, industrial and services sectors similar to US
    • Agricultural: 0.6% to 1%
    • Industrial: 21% to 19%
    • Services: 78.4% to 80%
    • Produce 60% of their own food
  • Other primary industry is oil and gas (energy)
    • 6th biggest producer in 2000, now 20th biggest producer
    • Biggest oil producer in EU and 2nd biggest in gas
    • 98% off shore
    • Trying to increase nuclear power
      • Have 16 nuclear stations
    • Increasing renewable energy
      • Biggest producer in offshore wind farms
      • Expensive
    • About 1/3 of energy is imported now, mostly from Norway
  • Manufacturing has shrunk rapidly
    • In middle of 20th century, 50% of economy was manufacturing
  • UK dominates economy in aerospace firms
    • BAE Systems
    • Rolls Royce
    • Cobham
    • GKN
  • No mass producing car industry, but still make a lot of top of the market cars (niche marketing)
    • Jaguar (owned by Indian firm)
    • Bentlyn (owned by Volkswagen)
    • Daimler
    • Rolls Royce (owned by BMW – german)
    • McLaren
    • Landrover
    • Don’t sell that many, but don’t need to sell many to make a lot of money
  • Some mass market production
    • Ford
    • Honda
    • Nissan
    • Toyota
    • Vauxhall
  • British producers only producing about 1/3 of the cars, but they are producing the high-tech third
  • British Leyland was an example of British fail
    • Tried to mass produce in 1970s
    • Got horrible reputation so it didn’t work
  • Also does well in pharmaceuticals
    • GlaxoSmithKline was first company to sell medicine in pill form, specializes in diabetes, anti-cancer
    • Astra-Zeneca specializes in heart medicine
  • Biggest service industry is NHS (national health service)
    • Publicly owned, government insurance
    • Only about 8% have private insurance
    • Probably 5th biggest employer in world (doesn’t compare to US department of justice or Chinese army)
    • Spends less per head than US does by a lot
  • Creative industry is a big growth area for Britain (6% of national income and growing)
    • Entertainment
      • 2nd biggest exports of television and music because of the English language
    • Fashion
    • Video games
  • Education
    • 7 of top 50 universities in world
    • About 15% of students are from overseas
    • Exporter of education because of people from overseas
    • In London about 1/3 of students are from overseas
      • India, Malaysia, China
    • Tourism
      • Big area
      • Goes up and down with exchange rates
      • 8th most visited country in the world
      • London does very well, most visited city along with Bangkok and Paris
    • Finance
      • The London Stock Exchange
        • Next to St. Pauls but not publicized because Irish nationalists targeted old LSE with a bomb
      • 8% of national income comes from national income, but only 4% of work force
      • Produces 12% of tax revenues
      • More people work in New York, but London is biggest international financial center
      • 4th biggest stock exchange
      • Lloyds of London is a major insurance market
        • Began with maritime shipping
        • Insures large things such as space ships and oil crafts
      • “The City”
        • London Stock Exchange
          • Between time zones of US and far East
        • Lloyds of London
        • Liffe
        • London Metal Exchange
        • London Bullion Market
        • ICE Futures
        • Baltic Exchange
      • 94 of 2000 largest firms are British
        • Has more companies than any other European country
        • Biggest is HSBC (#15)
          • Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation
          • In Britain because Britain used to have major role in those cities’ economies
          • One of worlds biggest banks
        • Another big firm is Vodafone (#40)
          • not big in America
          • Major player in Europe and Africa
          • Produced walkie-talkies for battle and then they became smaller and smaller and eventually turned into mobile phones
          • 2nd biggest mobile phone producer
        • 3rd biggest in Britain is BP (#41)
          • British Petroleum
          • Dominates North Sea oil and gas
          • Expanded into other markets (renewable wind energy)
        • #56 Prudential
        • #100 Lloyds Banking Group
        • #105 Rio Tinto
          • Mining company
        • #135 GlaxoSmithKline
        • #153 Standard Chartered
          • Bank
          • Leading bank in Asia
        • #163 Aviva
          • Insurance
        • #175 Legal & General
          • Insurance
        • Major destination and source of foreign investments
          • 2nd to US in both categories
        • 35% of people in industrial sector work for foreign companies
        • 1M people in UK work for American firms
        • UK is very relaxed about foreign takeovers
        • 17th most globalized nation
        • Part 2: How we got here & Why we grumble
          • UK gave world factory system
          • Coal mining all over UK
          • ½ the iron in 1850, ½ of cotton, 2/3 of coal
          • GDP in 1820 was 3x that of the US
          • In 1870, US was catching up, but still biggest in Europe
        • “The Workshop of the World”
          • Until first world war
          • Open to free trade
          • Switched from agriculture to industrial very quickly
        • People think British economy went wrong around 1900 because Germany and US were catching up
        • John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946)
          • Most famous British economist of 20th C and arguably most famous of the 20th C in the world
          • UK government ignored Keynes in 30s (controversial)
          • Keynes said government should spend to get demand growing and get jobs growing
        • In Second world war UK was state run economy
          • Rationing
          • Government taking over economy seemed to be success
          • Was only working because the government was the biggest customer (army)
        • Nationalization – government bought major industries
          • Coal 1946
          • Electricity 1947
          • Railways 1948
          • Healthcare 1948
          • Road haulage 1948
          • Gas 1949
          • Steel 1951 & 1967
          • Rolls Royce 1971
          • British Petroleum 1974
          • National Enterprise Board 1975
          • British Leyland 1976
          • British Aerospace 1977
          • Became mixed economy
          • About 20% of economy being run by government on a break-even sense
        • “Keynesian Social Democracy” or “The Post-War Consensus” 1940s-1970s
          • Mixed economy
          • Tripartite corporatism
            • Idea that corporation should be run by government, CBI, TUC (trade union)
          • Demand management
            • Government should alter own spending to get full employment
          • Full employment leads to:
            • Welfare state
            • Promotion of equality
            • Regional policy
          • Unemployment dropped permanently
            • “you’ve never had it so good”
          • Not everything was so good
            • International trade started dropping
            • Having trouble keeping fixed exchange rate
            • Other countries getting ahead
            • In 1950s US was way ahead in GDP and UK was second
            • In 1970s, UK was in 5th place in GDP
            • Inflation was all over the place, got up to 25% annual inflation in 70s, had persistently higher inflation than other places
          • Trade union militancy?
            • Trade unions were rioting over everything
            • Government was pleading with unions to be reasonable and they weren’t listening
            • Some say it was because of communist infiltration (not really what happened despite a few radical groups)
            • Workers were concerned with wage rates not keeping up with inflation
          • Aristocratic culture?
            • A little bit of truth that people hired managers and moved to the country side and did nothing to their factories
            • Not that many aristocrats
            • If you are rich you sent your kids to the best schools
              • These schools teach subjects like history and literature, not practical subjects like business or science
              • Teach at these schools to be leaders/rulers and aristocrats
            • “The Winter of Discontent” 1978-1979
              • Led to political backlash against union
            • Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister 1979-1990
              • Thought government was not being competitive and was being to soft and giving into unions
            • The Rejection of Consensus
              • Not Demand management but monetarism
              • Not full employment but low inflation
              • Now mixed economy but privatization
                • Sell back public companies to private sector and make them profitable
                • Mainly in 80s companies were sold back to private sector after being taken over by government in 70s
              • Not corporatism but non-intervention
                • Management should manage, if they can’t cope with trade unions maybe we should change the law
                • She changed law that before a strike the union had to have a strike postal ballot, before they just had a in-factory vote
                • If workers went on strike without formal ballot they could be sued by the firm
              • Not equality but enterprise
              • Welfare state?

Lots of closures in 80s

  • Boarded up factories
  • Unemployment soared, but still not as close to the 30s
  • Terrible strife
  • Miners’ Strike 1984-85
    • One of biggest strikes in UK history
    • Went on strike when sector tried to be privatized
    • Police were called in because workers tried to block entrance to stations
    • Very violent
  • How did Thatcher government survive?
    • Had good foreign policy
    • Opposition was split between communist and not so radical
    • She closed the income inequality gap
    • Some people did well
    • Poorest 10% of nation saw income shrink
    • Old industries in decline
    • Rich areas in south
    • Coal industries that used to be rich became poorer
    • Some people say she’s a hero, some hate her
    • North celebrated her death
    • Companies that survived were the most successful
  • Gordon Brown in the City
    • Tony Blair’s successor
    • Took over right before financial downturn
  • Bank Nationalizations in 2008
    • Royal Bank of Scotland had 70% government stake
    • Lloyds TSB government bought 40% but has sold a lot back now
    • Northern rock
    • HBOS taken over by Lloyds
    • Bradford & Bingley
  • Recession
    • Britain lost 7% of national income
    • Had slow recovery and bad drop
    • Extreme reliance on financial industry made this recovery so slow
  • Unemployment right now is about 5%, but job growth is in low productivity and low pay jobs
  • Government has high levels of debt and reducing deficit is a priority

 

  • British were actually bombed, unlike US
  • First total war
    • Aerial bombardment
    • Land
    • Sea
    • Caused ordinary citizens to be involved
  • During WWII suicide rates were at an all time low
    • If you see your friends dying, you appreciate what you have
  • Welfare state
    • Umbrella term for state that uses income tax to support the most poorest and most vulnerable in society
    • America has this as well
    • Europeans tend to trust the central state more
  • Difference between America and Europe is that Europe has social patriotism
    • Not just a sense of how much you love your country but a sense of how much everybody is connected and needs each other
    • People should, not just for moral reasons, support each other
    • Not socialism
  • National Health Service (NHS)
    • Founded in 1948
    • THE legacy of what Churchill called “THE PEOPLE’S WAR”****
    • Pay 20% income taxes (40% for income above certain level)
    • Pay another 5% of income to NHS
    • Citizens of EU can use any other EU country’s health care system
  • North of UK were first cities of industrial region
    • Now its gone, but people there still have sense of industrial Britain community

South of UK has cities associated with financial services, media, politics

  • Regional culture
  • UK has smaller population, but a bigger state (so implementing laws is easier)
  • Politically and economically Americans are more individualistic than Europeans because of many reasons including geography
  • In 1967, British said abortion and birth control is legal and is available on NHS and freely available
  • British state is more smaller and centralized
  • Richard Branson is the head of the legalize pot campaign
  • Obesity rates are second only to America
    • American fast food arrived in Britain fairly late
    • 1974 first McDonalds in UK
    • The rest followed soon
    • More Brits eat hamburgers than eat fish and chips
    • Idea of exercising regularly and fitness culture comes from America
    • We gave you McDonalds but we also gave you gyms and yoga classes
    • Hippie culture of California in the 60s gave us diets, organic food, gyms, yoga, etc.
  • Welfare state
    • Peace dividend of people’s war
    • Unemployment benefits
    • “I’m on the dole” = I’m unemployed and drawing benefits
    • Makes up 29.5% of GDP in UK
    • Makes up 19.4% of GDP in the US
    • Most of the difference is healthcare
    • Don’t spend much more on legal aid, unemployment benefits, etc.
    • 100% of EU citizens has state healthcare from birth to death
    • Churchill was conservative
    • Churchill “we will take care of our people from the cradle to the grave”
    • You don’t lose healthcare if you are unemployed
    • If you don’t have fear of losing your healthcare you do lose the motivation to work hard – Americans are right about that
    • Yes it’s a disincentive to work hard, yes it is also redistributed (5% of this guys income is more than 5% of a trash collectors income, so professor is subsidizing trash man’s healthcare by paying more)
    • Raised to believe its their civic duty to subsidize the healthcare (result of Churchill era)
    • MAIN POINT: its also based on self interest, for a state health care system to work people have to trust that they are getting first rate healthcare back in return for that taxation, they don’t play politics with the health or the health of their families
    • 8% of Brits have private healthcare because there are some additional benefits that NHS doesn’t cover so they take out private insurance (face lifts, cosmetic dentistry, so that they can be seen quicker for nonessential things, etc.)
    • 92% of Brits think they are getting first rate healthcare in return for their taxes despite the flaws in the system
  • Leisured Society
    • Have better work-life balance in several ways
    • Don’t work as hard as us
    • Average working week in states is 55 hours
    • Average working week in EU is 45 hours
    • In France its 35 hours
    • French have law that its their right to not work more than 35 hours a week
    • Britain and Germany are industrial and richest countries in EU
    • Greeks, Spanish, Italian are lazy
    • BIGGEST DIFFERENCE: vacations
    • In US there is no federal statutory law to paid vacation
    • In UK you have a statutory right to 5 weeks paid vacation
    • In Britain the most basic graduates have 5 weeks
    • Middle management gets 6-7 weeks
    • Upper level jobs get 8-9 weeks
    • Average family income in Britain are around 3/4s of American family incomes
    • They don’t work as hard so they don’t earn as much money, but the payoff is that they have a lot more leisure time
    • In America there is cultural pressure to not take paid vacation even if you have it
    • In UK the cultural pressure is to take all of your paid vacation
  • Number of Americans with passports has risen from 20% to 35%
  • On average, in Europe 80% of people have passports
    • Cheaper to travel abroad in Europe
    • All but the poorest Brits can afford to travel around the EU
    • In America tends to be a middle and upper class thing
    • They have more leisure time
  • Europeans live longer
    • British male on average lives to be 79
    • Average American male lives to be 77
    • Average British female lives to be 83
    • Average American female lives to be 81
    • Because of NHS
    • Most people think a bigger factor is shorter working week and more holidays
  • MAIN POINT
    • American dream is a wonderful thing, most Europeans envy and admire America for this more than anything else
    • More social mobility, we work harder, we’re less obsessed with class
    • Care more about where somebody wants to get to than where they come from, we have one of the highest rates of social mobility and Brits have one of the lowest
    • If you ask the average Brit what they most like about their life they will say work-life balance, most Europeans want the American dream (higher income, higher social mobility) but they want to hang on to the leisured society
    • American dream comes at a price (shorter life, higher divorce rate)****
    • In 50s 1 in 10 Americans and Brits ended in divorce
    • By 70s divorce rate had risen to 1 in 3 in both countries because women had financial stability and access to lawyers
    • Since 70s it has continued to rise but there is a slight divergence
    • In America now over 50% of marriages end in divorce
    • In UK its 40% that end in divorce
    • UK just risen by 10% and in US almost doubled
    • Average British family spends more time with each other so they can hang out and solve problems
  • UK is a euroskeptic country
    • Don’t have euro currency
    • Britain was only competent country in Europe that wasn’t invaded and occupied during WWII
    • Island identities tend to be different all over the world
    • UK has since of superiority to Europe
    • Cowardly French surrendered, UK held line until America arrived
    • Brits feel so close to America because of sense of being allied
    • Brits will say America and UK defeated enemies in WWII

 

  • Soccer is the most popular sport in the world
    • The legacy of the British
  • Soccer is the correct term
    • Started saying football in the 1960s
    • Also make fun of us for saying “world series” because we are the only country who plays
    • World Cup is actual world series
  • Cricket died out in US because it was seen as the sport of the colonialism
  • Key difference
    • More overly patriotic function
    • I am British so I like soccer, rugby, cricket
    • I am American so I like baseball, football, basketball
    • In Europe, sport has always been not just a way of identifying yourself, but we have Team England, Team Spain, etc.
    • National teams are as important as Manchester United, Chelsea, etc
    • Sport generates national identity in each country
    • George Orwell in 1960 said “football is war minus the shooting”
    • Only time British won the world cup (a sport they invented) in 1966 in London and England played West Germany in the final
    • At world cup final in 1966, it was only 21 years after fall of Nazi Germany, young soccer players had fathers who fought in the war
  • Soccer
    • Key point: modern game of soccer was the sport of the industrial working blue collar man
    • Manchester was the capital of the industrial revolution
    • ManU is such a successful team but they are the most legendary team because they are the capital of the industrial revolution
    • Up until 1960s soccer was male, blue-collar, and northern English
    • World Cup final in 1966 changed this following and everybody started watching (women, middle class, upper class) instead of just the blue collar men
    • In the last 10 years the number of women attending soccer matches has risen from 5% to 20%
    • English Premier League and La Liga are 2 biggest leagues in the world
  • The Champions League
    • Runs parallel with their domestic league in August through June and the champions of each domestic league from England to Russia compete with each other
    • Their equivalent of the super bowl
    • Most watched sports league in the world
    • Has weekly global audience of 500M people in 200 countries every week
    • Started in 1955 and designed by EU to bring young Europeans together
    • 32 teams in Europe whichever have won domestic leagues the year before
    • Final we are watching is the most watched single sporting event on the planet
    • Average of 100M viewers around the world
    • Most successful club is Real Madrid they have won it 10 times
  • World Cup
    • Every 4 years
    • First played in 1930
    • Invented by French
    • England didn’t take part until 1950 because they refused to take part in something invented by French
    • When England finally competed they were humiliated and beaten 1-0 in first round by American scratch team of college kids
    • 32 teams from 6 continents out of the 200 competitors make it to world cup
    • Most watched sports tournament, bigger than Olympics
    • Cumulative TV audience of 25B people over 1 month every 4 years
    • World Cup final has audience of approximately 715M people, 1/9 of the words entire population
    • Most successful team is Brazil, they’ve won it 5 times
  • ManU has 12 domestic championships
  • Chelsea and Arsenal good
  • Soccer
    • About national identity and not caring where you are from
    • Also international through world cup every 4 years and every year links Brits to fellow Europeans
  • Americanization
    • Accelerates greatly in 1950s
    • Soft power=America becoming the super power of the world=fast food, Hollywood, etc=cultural influence
  • Coca Cola
    • 1901 first exported to UK
    • Didn’t take off until 1950s when coke switched ads from family images to youth culture (jazz, rock and roll, soul music)
    • Promoted coke as life (you’ll be better at everything, you’ll get laid more often, etc.) and then it took off
  • Ford
    • Henry Ford opens first factory in 1913
    • Assembly line caused second industrial revolution
  • Hollywood
    • 1930s talking movies came out
    • Biggest movie producer
    • Hollywood movies have a higher violence content than British movies which is a reason why Hollywood movies are more popular
    • European shows and movies have more sex and drugs
  • Less than 5% of British population has a license to have a gun
    • This includes hunting, farming, hand guns, etc.
  • Pop music
    • 1920s jazz arrives from New Orleans
    • Blues, soul, etc.
    • African American music
  • McDonalds first restaurant in 1974
    • Took 10 years for hamburger to take off
    • First commercial failed because it had American accents, everybody was smiling and happy, and it was family oriented
    • There’s a line that says the good things we do better sung in an American accent
    • Good advertisement is set in Manchester, blue collar, soccer, broken home
  • WWII
    • 2M US soldiers were stationed in the UK 1942-1944
    • First time Brits came in contact with Americans
    • Brought music
    • Our predecessors
    • British girls liked them because they have better uniforms and were more generous with their rations
  • “Britain will be a Trojan horse of American influence” – Charles de Gaulle

Youth Culture

  • Mixture of American popular music and European fashion styles
  • British invasion from 1964-1967 brought Beatles, Rolling Stones, etc. to America
  • Beatles wore skinny fitting colored suits when they toured America
  • Beatles embodied new British youth culture with collarless jackets and Italian suits to say they were European not American, but their music was inspired by America
  • Beatles had a global audience of 600M mostly young people in this video on TV
  • First time young people had been connected in that way, but also technological breakthrough
  • This video was the first time in young British peoples lives that they felt connected to young Americans
  • This video had the first global Anglo-American youth culture
  • All you need is love about young people around the world empowering themselves
  • Beatles was only time when British music was more popular than American music
  • EDM
    • European popular music that has swept the world
    • Invented by Germany in 1975 and called it techno
    • Dubstep invited in London in 2006 by Skream and Banga
    • When Skrillex played in London he had Skream and Banga open for him
  • Fashion
    • Metrosexuality is more mainstream
    • No more gay people in UK than anywhere else in the world
    • European men dress differently because of class (very hierarchical)
    • For 100s of years fashion was not set by pop stars or fashion designers, it was set in royal courts of Europe
    • Aspiring people wore cheaper versions of what the king wore
    • To get noticed by king if you had a good idea you had to appear at court with good clothes
    • Powdered wig exists because Louis XIV was short and bald so he wore the wigs and so everybody else started wearing them too
    • European men have been dressing to impress for year
    • American men tend to dress down
    • Second reason men dress more metrosexual is because of different attitudes towards sexuality
    • In 1967 gay sex was decriminalized in the UK
    • It wasn’t fully decriminalized in all 50 states until 2003
    • Euro men dress up because Britain has been a less homophobic countrys

 

  • Vote on a handwritten ballot
    • Write an x next to the candidate you want on a piece of paper
  • 50 parties in last election
  • 11 parties in house of parliament right now
  • 3 main parties
    • Labour party – red
    • Liberal democrats – yellow
    • Conservatives – blue
  • Part 1: Before 1906
    • Parties began with who supported the king vs who did not
    • Conservatives can trace roots back to the royalists
    • Whigs (Puritans) vs. Tories (royalists)
    • Term tori is still used to talk about old fashioned conservatives
    • The French Revolution 1789
  • Old Conservative Values
    • Stability
    • Tradition
    • Monarchy
    • The Church of England
    • Aristocracy
    • Paternalism
    • Agriculture
    • National Unity
    • Strong defense
    • Empire
  • Old Liberal Values
    • Reason
    • Progress
    • Constitutional Reform
    • Meritocracy
    • Religious Freedom
    • The Free Market
    • Industry
    • Trade
    • Peace
  • Socialist Party
    • British was richest country in the world why are there so many poor people?
    • Some people thought socialism was common sense
  • Old Labour Values
    • Working class solidarity
    • Equality
    • Socialism
    • Nationalism
    • Trade Unionism
    • Welfare
    • Internationalism
    • Disarmament
  • Part II: 1906-1940
    • The eclipse of the Liberal Party
    • David Lloyd George PM 1916-22 was the last PM of liberal party
    • Liberal vote was declining and labor vote was rising during the 1920s
    • Easier for conservatives to beat labor party than to beat liberal party because the conservatives said the labor party was an extremist party
  • The dispersal of Old Liberal Values
    • Reason – both
    • Progress – both
    • Constitutional reform – neither
    • Meritocracy – both
    • Religious freedom – both
    • The free market – conservative
    • Industry – conservative
    • Trade – conservative
    • Peace – labor party
  • Clement Atlee
    • PM 1945-51
    • Labor party
  • Party Dividing Lines (exaggerated)
    • Capitalism (conservative) v socialism (labor)
    • Bosses (conservative) v workers (labor)
    • Middle class (conservative) v working class (labor)
    • Higher taxes (labor) v lower taxes (conservative)
    • More welfare (labor) v less welfare (conservative)
    • South (conservative) v north (labor)
  • Winter of Discontent
    • 1978-79
  • Part IV: 1979-1997
    • The Era of Thatcherism
    • To be efficient had to have more inequality, more unemployment, etc.
    • Wanted to make Britain a do-it-yourself nation
    • During this time the British conservative party became more conservative than the American conservative party
    • A lot of people in Scotland voted conservative in 1979, but by 1997 nobody voted conservative in Scotland
    • Poll Tax Riots 1990
  • Part V: 1997-now
    • The Era of Blairism
    • Tony Blair, PM 1997-2007
    • Blair said he wasn’t born into the party, he chose it
  • New Labor Values
    • [Working class] solidarity
    • [Equality] fairness
    • [socialism]
    • [nationalization]
    • trade unionism
    • welfare
    • internationalism
    • [disarmament]
    • NEW: constitutional reform
  • Coalition Government 2010-15
  • Ed Miliband
    • Leader of the labor party 2010-15
    • Resigned 3 weeks ago as a result of losing the election
  • Scottish National Party
    • Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon
    • Want higher taxes, higher welfare spending, etc.
  • UK Independence Party
    • Nigel Farage has been leader since 2006
  • Last election
    • England was almost all blue
    • Scotland was almost all yellow
    • Conservatives have almost 100 more seats than labor party
    • The Lib Dems have almost been erased
    • Ukip still has no impact whatsoever
    • The SNP has 50 more seats

 

  • Britain is a more racially integrated country than the United States
  • Brits think Americans are racists
  • Slavery
    • First reason why Britain is more racially integrated is because a different history of slavery
    • Americans know more about slavery than the average Brit
    • 1807 first sermon in South London against slavery
    • Brits abolished slavery easily in 1807 (Wilberforce was judge)
    • Americans didn’t abolish slavery until 1865 and we had to have a civil war to do it
    • There wasn’t a slave plantation on the Great Britain island
    • Exported slavery to Jamaica
    • Britain made more money than anybody in slave trade
    • Britain can forget about slavery because it didn’t happen in the country they are living in
    • No affirmative action in the UK
    • UK has never had segregation laws
  • Mixed race relationships
    • Very common here
    • No stigma attached to these relationships
    • Never been law against interracial marriage
    • Until 1967, 30 out of 50 states had laws against interracial marriage
    • Robert Kennedy fixed this
    • In 1960s there was a couple named the Lovings (white man and native American/African American woman) got married and broke the anti-interracial laws in Virginia, Kennedy was so disgusted that he took up the case to fix it
    • 5-10% of couples are interracial in both UK and US
    • In America, 90% of interracial couples are between majorities
    • In UK, 90% of interracial couples involve a white person
    • Only two countries ever who have banned interracial relationships are Nazi Germany and South Africa
  • British empire starting to be dismantled in 1947 when India was given independence
  • In 1997 Hong Kong was given back to China
  • By the time the Beatles split up in 1970, most of empire was dismantled
  • Britain has been ethnically diverse for less time
  • Racial integration in the UK is a product of decolonization
    • Black people in the UK most of them came from Nigeria colony
    • France’s black people came from Senegal colony
    • Most African Brits’ parents came to UK on their own free will
    • African Brits’ know where their parents came from
    • Jamaica Brits are more hostile than African Brits
    • Jamaican Brits have worse education, lower incomes, come from single parent households
    • Big cultural divide in Britain between Jamaican Brits and Nigerian Brits
  • Fewer ethnic minorities in UK than in US
    • The official ethnic minority population is 10% of total population
    • In America, 30% of total population
    • When you factor in illegal population, just over 50%
    • Not only is legal population in UK, so is illegal population
    • If you factor in illegals in UK it only goes up to 15%
    • Less illegals because its harder to immigrate to an island
    • In 1994, Britain was connected physically to the European continent with the Chunnel
    • Easier to get into other EU countries that have easier immigration laws, so people don’t come to UK
    • If you are born in any EU country, you have a right to settle in any other EU country
    • Brits don’t have the space to self segregate that Americans do
    • If they did, they would
  • Average British teenager
    • 10x more likely to live alongside somebody as a different ethnicity
    • Also 10x more likely to go to junior, middle, and high school of a different ethnicity
    • More likely to have a friend of another race
  • Politically and economically integration is better in the US
    • Class prejudice in the UK
    • Even if you arrive overqualified (which a lot do) you are professionally downgraded because of class
    • In America if you are qualified to be a doctor but don’t have the resources you are seen as part of the American dream, in UK you are seen as poor
    • Only 5% of MPs are ethnic minorities
    • In Washington DC ethnic minorities make up almost 25%
    • UK is more ethnically diverse than America, but less ethnically diverse than the rest of Europe
    • Hate crime is higher in Europe than in Britain
    • Asian kids in UK outperform other minorities just like in the US
    • Still politically correct in UK to say oriental to talk about Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, etc.
    • If a Brit means Asian they most likely mean Hindu Indians or Muslim Pakistani
  • 2004 is the year of EU expansion
    • Almost doubled in size
    • Most of countries who had been in Soviet Union joined the EU
    • Eastern Europe joined Western Europe
    • In the 10 years between 2004 and 2014, it is estimated that about 2M people have migrated to UK from poorer eastern Europe
    • Mostly young and mostly white, mostly of Christian origin, a few Jewish migrants, but there is often still prejudice against the new migrants
    • This is a class prejudice because Brits think they are poorer
    • The fundamental difference between class between UK and US is that US defines it by socioeconomic (how much stuff they own, how much they earn, have potentially to earn more and move up in class, American dream) and UK defines class culturally (how you speak, how you dress)
    • If you define class culturally, then however much money you make and stuff you have it doesn’t matter because you will still be defined as a working class millionaire
    • Our economic definition of class gives us social and class mobility
  • Post 9/11 attitudes towards Muslims
    • In 2007, the UN did a survey about if people thought Islam was a threat to their way of life and 20% of Americans said yes and the British had almost 40% say yes
    • People in UK are less religious so they see religion as more of a threat than Americans do
    • In UK religion is kept out of politics
    • Any comment at all about religion is politically suicide in UK
    • In a more secular society, people are less equipped to understand any religion motivating any type of violence
  • 7/7 attacks
    • Al Queda attacks on July 7, 2005 in UK
    • Only around 50 people died on 7/7 compared to 3,000 in the US on 9/11
    • But, people are more scared by Islam here even though less people died
    • Bombers were British born
    • West Indian is Carribbean
    • Since they were British born, questions were raised about ethnic/religion diversity and how to make that work
  • Era of Civil Rights
    • During the 60s in both US and UK
    • Starts in 1944 in UK
    • Learie Constantine was a confidant of Churchill and was in charge of west Indians who were fighting for Britain in WWII, lawyer, captain of West Indies cricket team
    • In 1944 Constantine walked into the Imperial Hotel with his wife and children and the woman at reception said “we don’t want any niggers in this hotel”
    • Constantine then decided to take the hotel to court and he was the top lawyer in London
    • Constantine forced British legal system to recognize that even though there was no segregation in law, there was racism in society
    • Constantine vs. Imperial Hotel – UK’s Rosa Parks moment
    • Constantine defended himself and proved that you don’t need segregation laws to have racism in practice
    • Birkett was the supreme court judge on the case
    • Birkett only gave Consantine 1 pound in damages because he didn’t want people to say that Constantine was after money, he wanted people to know that this was about legal and political issues
    • Birkett’s next case was when he was the supreme judge at the trials of the surviving Nazi leaders and was appointed by Roosevelt for it
    • In 1968, the race relations act was passed (3 years after US signed civil rights act in 1965)
    • Race relations act made it illegal to discriminate
    • Also made inciting racial hatred a crime
  • British National Party is UK version of KKK
    • BNP doesn’t have much electoral success, but they do have a presence
    • Started handing out pamphlets and making YouTube videos saying Islams weren’t welcome
    • In 2005, key test case that BNP lawyers said they didn’t not break race relations act because they weren’t inciting racial hated they were inciting religious hatred
    • In 2006, Blair passed the religious offenses act
  • UK didn’t have an MLK/Civil rights leader
  • It was harder to get Civil Rights movement going in UK
    • Brits don’t think they are racist
    • No formal law
    • Less angry black people here
  • In America the Civil Rights movement was very easily hijacked by African Americans
    • Often forgotten that Jewish Americans were involved in Civil Rights
    • No one minority in UK could say we are going to lead the movement
  • One of biggest issues in NHS is that people resent sharing and subsidize healthcare for poor foreigners

 

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