Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
event known as “7/7” as if all the country's Muslims were to blame. At the same time, a
handful of radical Islamic clerics attempted to justify the bombers' violent actions.
The large Muslim population is just one thread in the tapestry of today's Britain.
While nine out of ten Brits are white, the country has large minority groups, mainly from
Britain's former colonies: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Africa, the Caribbean, and many
other places. Despite the tensions between some groups, for the most part Britain is relat-
ively integrated, with minorities represented in most (if not all) walks of life.
But unemployment, the economic downturn, and cuts to programs for the working
class have strained relations between communities within Britain. In August of 2011, Lon-
don police shot and killed a young black man named Mark Duggan, inflaming tensions
between the police and the black community. A peaceful protest against the police was
followed by violent riots and looting. British society as a whole was left to grapple with
its causes and social implications: Were the riots a sign of rising racial and economic ten-
sions, or simply a chance for poor young people to grab a shiny new smartphone?
Throughout the British Isles, you'll also see many Eastern Europeans (mostly Poles,
Slovaks, and Lithuanians) working in restaurants, cafés, and B&Bs. These trans-
plants—who started arriving after their home countries joined the EU in 2004—can make
a lot more money working here than back home. British small-business owners have
found these new arrivals to be polite, responsible, and affordable. While a few Brits com-
plain that the new arrivals are taking jobs away from the natives, and others are frustrated
that their English can be far from perfect, for the most part Britain has absorbed this new
set of immigrants gracefully.
Meanwhile Scottish nationalists have called for a vote on leaving the UK and becom-
ing independent (but—like Canada and Australia—the Queen would remain Scotland's
official head of state). Nationalists complain about the “shackles” of a London-based UK
parliament and say that oil reserves would make Scotland rich. Opponents say the UK is
one of the world's most successful political unions—and if the Scots leave, they would
have to abandon the British pound and pay their “fair share” of the national debt.
In 2003, Tony Blair's Licensing Act deregulated alcohol sales and did away with the
government-mandated 23:00 closing time for pubs. The goal was to encourage a lively,
late-night café culture in Britain, but an unintended consequence has been an epidem-
ic of binge-drinking among young people. A 2007 study revealed that one out of every
three British men, and one out of every five British women, routinely drinks to excess.
It's become commonplace for young adults (typically from their mid-teens to mid-20s) to
spend weekend nights drinking at pubs and carousing in the streets. (And they ratchet up
the debauchery even more when celebrating a “stag night” or “hen night”—bachelor and
bachelorette parties.) While sociologists and politicians scratch their heads about this phe-
