Eating and drinking habits

Holidays

Leisure trends

The most common leisure activities among people in Britain are home-based, or social, such as visiting relatives or friends.

Watching television is by far the most popular leisure pastime. Nearly every household has a television set, and average viewing time is over 25 hours a week. The majority of households also have a video recorder.

Other regular pastimes include listening to the radio and to recorder music. About 70 per cent of the population listen to local and national radio on an average day. There has been a dramatic rise in the sale of compact discs in recent years. The number of households with a home computer has increased to over one-quarter.

Many people in their spare time enjoy reading (over 50 per cent belong to a library), gardening, do-it-yourself home improvements, undertaking voluntary work, going out for a meal or drink or to the cinema. More daily newspapers, national and regional, are sold for every person in Britain than in most other developed countries. On an average day 56 per cent of people over the age of 15 read a national morning paper; 70 per cent read a Sunday newspaper.

The British are renowned as animal lovers, and about half of all household have a pet, most commonly dogs and cats.

In 1997,57 million holidays of four or more nights away from home were taken by British residents, 30 million of them within Britain. The most popular destinations for summer holidays in Britain are the West Country, Scotland and Wales. August is the most popular month for taking holidays.

Of the major free seaside attractions, the most frequented were Blackpool Pleasure Beach in Lancashire (with an estimated 7.8 million visitors), the Place Pier in Brighton and the Pleasure Beach at Great Yarmouth.

The most popular destinations for overseas holidays by British residents are France (23 per cent), Spain (26 per cent) and the United States (6.7 per cent). In all, British residents take about 29 million holidays overseas, of which 57 per cent involve 'package' arrangements (covering both transport and accommodation). About 80 per cent of all holidays abroad are taken in Europe.

Although some traditional meals in Britain, like roast beef and Yorkshire pudding or fish and chips, remain popular, there has been a significant shift in eating habits among the population over the last decade or so. This is in part due to a greater emphasis on health and convenience considerations.

Consumption of several items, such as packet sugar, eggs, potatoes and fresh green vegetables, has declined substantially. An increase in the consumption of rice and pasta may be partly responsible for the decline in that of potatoes. Consumption of meat - with the exception of that of poultry which is now at a record level - has also fallen. Skimmed milk now constitutes more than half of the total household consumption of liquid milk. There has been a decline in the total consumption of cooking and spreading fats, with large falls in butter and lard usage being offset by rapid rises in the consumption of vegetable and salad oils and reduced fat spreads. A switch in fish consumption away from fresh white fish towards canned fish and shellfish has been evident. There has been a small increase in the intake of fibre.

Britain has a wide range of restaurants, offering cuisine from virtually every country. Chinese, Indian, Italian and Greek restaurants are among the most popular.

There has been an increase in recent years in the amount of alcohol that people drink, particularly among women. Beer, including lager, is the most popular drink among male drinkers. The largest consumers of alcohol are in the 18 to 24 age range. Table wine has become more popular, although there has been little change in the consumption of stronger wines such as sherry and port.

QUESTIONS:

1. What languages are spoken in Britain?

Which of the languages of Celtic origin is the strongest?

2. What is the demographic situations in Britain today?

What are the statistics for birth rates, life expectancy, age and sex structure? What are the latest trends in family life?

3. What is the population of Britain and its major cities? Which are Britain^,s largest ethnic minority groups? What is the evidence for discrimination against ethnic minorities in employment, the armed services, housing, education, etc.?

4. In what ways are women still disadvantaged in Britain? How does the position of women in Britain compare with that in Belarus?

5. How do you explain the popularity of the different types of dwelling in Britain?

6. What are the typical leisure trends?

V. BRITISH POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS

- Political history

- Constitutional framework

- The Monarchy

- The Privy Council

- Parliament

- General Elections

- The Party Political System

- Parliamentary Procedure

- Legislative Proceedings

- The Government. The Civil Service

- Local Government

Дата добавления: 2014-01-05