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Saturday, August 27, 2016

Préparation agrégation anglais civilisation britannique 14

Le Royaume Uni à l'épreuve de la crise 1970-79

Cyprus

Most of Britain’s colonies gained their independence before 1970, although a trickle of independences continued throughout the 1970s. This does not mean that Britain’s imperial past had no more influence : debates and struggles around immigration and around racism were very much present. On the foreign policy side, the British governments of the 1970s organized fewer military interventions that in previous decades (Suez, or Kenya, for example) or in subsequent decades (the Falklands, or Iraq, for example). One of the places where Britain’s imperial past caught up with it in the 1970s, to some extent, was Cyprus. This 1984 documentary is rather long, but explains the situation well.



If like me you have a lot to do, use an online tool like clipconverter to make the videos into MP3 files you can listen to while learning to juggle.

Saturday, August 13, 2016

Préparation agrégation anglais civilisation britannique 13



Le Royaume-Uni face à la crise 1970-79
1979 : The night the government fell

When a British government finds it has a healthy majority in the House of Commons – of thirty or forty members or more – it can concentrate on its own programme, while keeping an eye on opinion polls because of the following elections. However, if it is a minority government, or has a majority of only two or three, it will often have to  be negotiating with smaller parties, listening to their priorities in the hope that they will support the government when there is a vote in the House, or at least abstain.  The Prime Minister is then faced with the question of what kind of concessions to smaller parties are acceptable compromises, and what concessions would be unethical (and the line is not easy to draw). This fascinating documentary shows the situation on the night when Margaret Thatcher, leader of the opposition in 1979, finally defeated the government. It was very close, and so parliamentary tactics were all used to the last possible minute.

Although in my opinion the start of the documentary repeats some worn old clichés about the "Winter of Discontent", the rest of the programme is very useful.

If like me you are very busy, use an online tool like clipconverter to make the videos into MP3 files you can listen to while doing your judo.

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Préparation agrégation anglais civilisation britannique 12

Le premier livre sur la question civilisation britannique à l'agrégation est sorti. Voir ici:

https://www.amazon.fr/Royaume-Uni-%C3%A0-l%C3%89preuve-Crise-1970-1979/dp/2340014379/

Je le trouve très bien - mais je ne suis pas objectif! C'est moi qui ai écrit un des chapitres, et plusieurs autres sont écrits par des collègues et amis.


Sunday, August 07, 2016

Préparation agrégation anglais civilisation britannique 11

This book is indispensable. And it is 500 pages long, so now is a good time to start.
It is however very easy to read and - if you are on kindle or you buy it second hand now - it i snot expensive:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/When-Lights-Went-Out-Seventies/dp/0571221378/ref=pd_lutyp_simh_1_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=51nKaqXGN6L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_SL500_SR101%2C160_&psc=1&refRID=KHXN2GGRV4S6CJZ39J64

I am on page 350.

Préparation agrégation anglais civilisation britannique 10

This is the tenth in a series of posts mainly aimed at students preparing the agrégation in English for 2017




Agrégation anglais civilisation britannique
Le Royaume-Uni à l’épreuve de la crise 1970-79

You can't work all the time, so, since it is summer, why not watch a few 1970s sitcoms from Britain. They help understand what was commonly considered to be funny in that rather different world.

Rires pas toujours garantis.

On the Buses

Bless This House

And Mother Makes Three

Man About the House

To the Manor Born

Les deux derniers seraient considérés aujourd’hui comme assez racistes (en tout cas c’est mon avis). Je les mets quand même afin de mieux connaître l’époque.

Mind Your Language

Love Thy Neighbour