The UK: Political Parties


There are three main political parties in Great Britain: the Conservative Party, the  Labour Party, and the Liberal Democrats, as well as numerous small parties, such as the great Party, which is supported by the environmentalists. 
The Conservative Party is the most powerful party and is sometimes called a ‘party of business directors’. It is supported by the richest sections of society- the monopolists, landowners, business owners. They are for minimal government interference in the economy. Their social and economic policy is wage restraint, drastic cuts in social service, promotion of private property and enterprise, maintenance of a strong military and foreign policy and preservation of traditional cultural values and institutions. Most of the money needed to run the party comes from large firms and companies. Among the outstanding Conservatives was Margaret Thatcher, who became Britain’s first woman prime minister in 1979.

The Conservative Party is known informally by the nickname of Tories, especially used in newspapers as it takes less space. The word ‘tory’ means an Irish highwayman and was applied to the Conservatives by their opponents; later the Conservatives adopted this nickname.
The Labour Party was founded in 1900 by the trade unions. Thus it represents the working class, plus a small middle-class intelligentsia. The Labour Party supports the weaker people in society and stands for equality and for more government involvement in the economy. Its concern is to provide full social services. Prime Minister Tony Blair (1997) represents the Labour Party.
The Liberal Democrats represent the middle class. The party supports individualism, private enterprise, human rights and promotion of social justice. It has always been strongly in favour of the European Union. It also places more emphasis on the environment than other parties.
The Liberal Democratic Party is nicknamed as the Whigs. A ‘whig’ was a Scottish preacher who could go on for 4 or 5 hours at a time preaching moralising sermons.
Government in Britain has alternated between only two political parties since 1945- the Conservative and the Labour party. No other party has been in office since then and there have been no coalitions. The Liberals enjoyed moments of success, but no member of the Liberal party has held government office since 1945.

Theresa Mary May is a British politician serving as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party since 2016. She was first elected Member of Parliament for Maidenhead in the general election of 1997


Key vocabulary:
support – աջակցել
environmentalist – [inˌvaıǝrǝn'mentǝlist] -շրջակա միջավայրի պաշտպանության հետևորդ
be in office – պաշտոն զբաղեցնել
privileged – արտոնյալ
landowner – հողատեր, կալվածատեր
interference- [ˌintǝ'fıǝrǝns] - միջամտություն
wage –աշխատավարձ
restraint- սահմանափակում
drastic cuts – սուր կրճատումներ
enterprise – ձեռնարկում
maintenance -['meıntǝnǝns] - պահպանում
involvement - ներգրավվում
preacher - ['prı:tʃǝ]-քարոզիչ
sermon - ['sǝ:mǝn]- քարոզ
alternate – ['ɔ:ltǝneıt]- հաջորդել միմյանց

Talking points:
1.     Which are the main political parties in Great Britain?
2.     How are the Conservatives/the Liberals most frequently reffered to in the British press?
3.     Which party represents the rich/ the working class/ the middle class?
4.     What policy does each party support?
5.     Who is the present Prime Minister? Which party does he/she represent?



Robert Burns / biography

Robert Burns 

Poet, Folk Hero(1759–1796)
Poet Robert Burns is considered one of the most famous characters of Scotland's cultural history. He is best known as a pioneer of the Romantic movement.

Synopsis

Poet Robert Burns began life as a poor tenant farmer but was able to channel his intellectual energy into poetry and song to become one of the most famous characters of Scotland's cultural history. He is best known as a pioneer of the Romantic movement for his lyrical poetry and his rewriting of Scottish folk songs, many of which are still well known across the world today. Since his death on July 21, 1796, his work has inspired many Western thinkers.


Early Life

Born on January 25, 1759, in Alloway, Scotland, Robert Burns was the eldest son of tenant farmers William Burnes and Agnes Broun. After some rudimentary education, Robert’s parents encouraged him to read books by important contemporary writers as well as Shakespeare and Milton. Since he was a boy, Robert Burns found farm work demanding and detrimental to this health. He broke up the drudgery by writing poetry and engaging with the opposite sex. When his father died in 1784, worn out and bankrupt, it only served to deepen Burns's critical view of the religious and political establishment that perpetuated Scotland's rigid class system.

The Life of a Lover and Writer

In the years 1784 to 1788, Robert Burns engaged in simultaneous illicit relationships that produced several illegitimate children. In 1785, he fathered his first child, Elizabeth, born out of wedlock to his mother’s servant, Elizabeth Paton, while at the same time he was courting Jean Amour. When Jean became pregnant, her father forbade the two to get married, and Jean honored her father’s wishes, at least temporarily. Enraged at Jean's rejection,  Burns began wooing Mary Campbell and considered running away with her to the Caribbean. However, Mary suddenly died, changing his plans. 
Amidst the domestic chaos in Robert Burns’s life, in July 1786, he published his first major volume of verse, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. Critics praised the work, and its appeal spanned different classes of Scottish society. With this sudden success, Burns decided to stay in Scotland, and that November, he set out for Edinburgh to bask in the glory.

Achievement and Sudden Fame


While in Edinburgh, Robert Burns made many close friends including Agnes “Nancy” McLehose, with whom he exchanged passionate letters, but was unable to consummate the relationship. Frustrated, he began to seduce her servant, Jenny Clow, who bore him a son. Turning to business, Burns befriended James Johnson, a fledgling music publisher, who asked him for help. The result was The Scots Musical Museum, a collection of traditional music of Scotland. Tired of the urban life, Burns settled on a farm at Ellisland in the summer of 1788 and finally married Jean Amour. The couple would ultimately have nine children, only three of whom survived infancy.
In 1791, however, Robert Burns quit farming for good and moved his family to the nearby town of Dumfries. There he accepted the position of excise officer—essentially a tax collector—and continued to write and gather traditional Scottish songs. That year he published “Tam O’Shanter,” a slightly veiled autobiographical story of a ne’er-do-well farmer, which is now considered a masterpiece of narrative poetry. In 1793 he then contributed to publisher George Thomson’s A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs for the Voice. This work and The Scots Musical Museum make up the bulk of Burns’s poems and folk songs, including the well-known pieces “Auld Lang Syne,” “A Red, Red Rose” and “The Battle of Sherramuir.”

Later Years and Death

In his final three years, Robert Burns sympathized with the French Revolution abroad and radical reform at home, neither of which was popular with many of his neighbors and friends. Never in good health, he had several bouts with illness, possibly attributed to a lifelong heart condition. On the morning of July 21, 1796, Robert Burns died in Dumfries at age 37. The funeral took place on July 25, the same day his son Maxwell was born. A memorial edition of his poems was published to raise money for his wife and children.

Legacy

Robert Burns was a man of great intellect and considered a pioneer of the Romantic movement. Many of the early  founders of socialism and liberalism found inspiration in his works. Considered the national poet of Scotland, he is celebrated there and around the world every year on "Burns Night,” January 25. 






Andy Williams- the best songs


Bow down

Bow [bou] / Homonym Bough=branch =bow [bau]



noun
a knot tied with two loops and two loose ends, used especially for tying shoelaces and decorative ribbons.
a girl with long hair tied back in a bow

a weapon for shooting arrows, typically made of a curved piece of wood whose ends are joined by a taut string.
They had walked and driven for hours to get there, carrying the only weapons they possessed - bows and arrows, spears and machetes.
synonyms: longbowcrossbowrecurve

verb

play (a stringed instrument or music) using a bow.
the techniques by which the pieces were bowed

See also
Bowtake a bowbow tiebow downbow and arrowbow outviolin bowbow windowbow thrusterbow wowbow-legged

verb
խոնարհվել
bowcrouchebbdroopcondescendincline
ծռել
bucklewarpcrankbowheelcrankle
ծռվել
heelwarpbucklebowhogscorch
բարեվել
bow
կռանալ
nodstoopcrouchbowlean
հակել
bow
հակվել
leanbowtend


noun
ծիածան
rainbowbowarc
աղեղ
bowarcarcharbalest
կամար
vaultarchbowvaultingcincture
ողջույն
greetingsalutewelcomesalutationbowaccost
քիթ
toenosebeakbowconksnook
առջեվի մաս
forepartfrontbow
կնտնտոցաղեղ
bow
           


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