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2. How big is it? What is the population of London?

3. What are the main tourist attractions in London?

4. What is Downing Street known for?

5. What is the name of London big international airport?

    Districts

     London’s vast urban area is often described using a set of district names (e.g. Bloomsbury, Knightsbridge, Mayfair, Whitechapel, Fitzrovia). These are either informal designations, or reflect the names of superseded parishes and city wards. Such names have remained in use through tradition, each referring to a neighbourhood with its own distinctive character, but often with no modern official boundaries. Since 1965 Greater London has been divided into 32 London boroughs in addition to the ancient City of London.

     London is one of the world’s three largest financial centres (alongside New York and Tokyo) with a dominant role in several international financial markets, and more foreign banks and investment houses than any other centre. The City has its own governance and boundaries, giving it a status as the only completely autonomous local authority in London. 

     London’s new financial and commercial hub is the Docklands area to the east of the City, dominated by the Canary Wharf complex. Other businesses locate in the City of Westminster, the home of the UK’s national government and the famous Westminster Abbey.

     The West End is London’s main entertainment and shopping district, with locations such as Oxford Street, Leicester Square, Covent Garden and Piccadilly Circus acting as tourist magnets.

     The West London area is known for fashionable and expensive residential areas such as Notting Hill, Knightsbridge and Chelsea – where properties can sell for tens of millions of pounds. The average price for all properties in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is £894,000 with similar average outlay in most of Central London.

     The eastern side of London contains the East End and East London. The East End is the area closest to the original Port of London, known for its high immigrant population, as well as for being one of the poorest areas in London. 

     The surrounding East London area saw much of London’s early industrial development; now, brownfield sites throughout the area are being redeveloped as part of the Thames Gateway including the London Riverside and Lower Lea Valley, which is being developed into the Olympic Park for the 2012 Olympics.

 

Task 5. Answer the questions.

Which part of London

 

a	has its own governance?
b	is a  new financial and commercial centre?
c	is main entertainment and shopping centre?
d	is known for fashionable and expensive residential areas?
e	has high immigrant population?
f	is going to be the Olympic Park soon?

    Economy

     London is a major centre for international business and commerce and is one of three "command centres" for the world economy (along with New York City and Tokyo). London is one of the largest centres for finance in the world, and has the 6th largest city economy in the world after Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Paris.

     As the world’s largest international banking centre with a 50% share of all European activity and Europe’s second largest city economy, year-by-year London generates approximately 20% of the UK’s GDP (or $446 billion in 2005); while the economy of the London metropolitan area (the largest in Europe) generates approximately 30% of UK’s GDP (or an estimated $669 billion in 2005.)

     London shifted to a mostly service-based economy earlier than other European cities, particularly following World War II. London’s success is as a service industry and business centre. This can be attributed to factors such as English being the lingua franca, its former position as the capital of the British Empire, close relationship with the U.S. and various countries in Asia. Other factors include English law being the most important and most used contract law in international business and the multi-cultural infrastructure. Government policies such as low taxes, particularly for foreigners (non-UK domiciled residents do not get taxed on their foreign earnings), a business friendly environment, good transport infrastructure, particularly its aviation industry; and a deregulated economy with little intervention by the government have all contributed to London’s economy becoming more service based. Over 85 percent (3.2 million) of the employed population of Greater London works in service industries.

     Another half a million employees resident in Greater London work in manufacturing and construction, almost equally divided between both. There has been a significant fall in the number of people working in manufacturing industries in London over the last three decades, largely as a result of competition from lower cost regions but also as a consequence of technology and process improvements. Even still, there are more than 15,000 manufacturing businesses in London such as clothing, printing, fabricated metal, furniture and wood/products and food and drink. There is also strong growth in the recycling/environmental sector. A strong manufacturing base still thrives in London because of its geographic location and access to huge markets, its large science and knowledge base, its physical assets, its diversity and its role as a centre of design and creative industries.

     London’s largest industry remains finance, and its financial exports make it a large contributor to the UK’s balance of payments. Over 300,000 people are employed in financial services in London. London has over 480 overseas banks, more than any other city in the world. More funds are invested in the City of London than in the next top ten European cities combined, and more international telephone calls are made to and from London than any other point on the planet. The City is the largest financial and business centre in Europe and, has recently begun to once more overtake New York City, partly due to strict accounting following the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and a tightening of market regulations in the United States. Due to New York’s tightening of market regulations, London stock exchanges have had approximately 20% more initial public offerings in 2006. London is home to banks, brokers, insurers and legal and accounting firms.

     A second, smaller financial district is developing at Canary Wharf to the east of the City which includes the global headquarters of HSBC, Reuters, Barclays and the Magic Circle, which includes Clifford Chance, the largest law firm in the world.

     London handled 31% of global currency transactions in 2005 – an average daily turnover of US$753 billion – with more US dollars traded in London than New York, and more euros traded than in every other city in Europe combined.

     More than half of the UK’s top 100 listed companies (the FTSE 100) and over 100 of Europe’s 500 largest companies are headquartered in central London. Over 70% of the FTSE 100 are located within London’s metropolitan area, and 75% of Fortune 500 companies have offices in London.

     Along with professional services, media companies are concentrated in London and the media distribution industry is London’s second most competitive sector. The BBC is a key employer, while other broadcasters also have headquarters around the city. Many national newspapers are edited in London, having traditionally been associated with Fleet Street in the City, they are now primarily based around Canary Wharf. Soho is the centre of London’s post-production industry.

     Tourism is one of London’s prime industries and employed the equivalent of 350,000 full-time workers in London in 2003, while annual expenditure by tourists is around £15 billion. London is a popular destination for tourists, attracting 27 million overnight-stay visitors every year, second only to Paris.

     From being the largest port in the world, the Port of London is now only the third-largest in the United Kingdom, handling 50 million tonnes of cargo each year. Most of this actually passes through Tilbury, outside the boundary of Greater London.

 

Task 6. Answer the questions.

1. Which factors contributed to London’s success as business centre?

2. Do many people work in construction?

3. What kinds of manufacturing businesses are there in London?

4. How many people are employed in financial services in London?

5. How many financial districts does London have?

6. Which of  500 largest Europe’s companies have their headquarters in  London?

7. What well-known broadcasting company is headquartered in central London?

 
 

Text 4 
Multicultural Britain

 

The following are extracts from a speech given by Robin Cook,

the British Foreign Secretary, in April 2001.

     Tonight I want to celebrate Britishness. Sadly, it has become fashionable for some to argue that British identity is under siege, (1)___________.I want to argue that where the pessimists identify a threat, we should instead see developments that will strengthen and renew British identity.

     The first element in the debate about the future of Britishness is the changing ethnic composition of the British people. The British are not a race, but a gathering of countless different races and communities. It is not their purity that makes the British unique, but the sheer pluralism of their ancestry.

     London was first established as the capital of a Celtic Britain by Romans from Italy. They were in turn driven out by Saxons and Angles from Germany. The great cathedrals of this land were built mostly by Norman bishops, (2)______________. Outside our Parliament, Richard the Lionheart  proudly sits astride his steed, a symbol of courage and defiance. Yet he spoke French much of his life, and depended on the Jewish community of England to put up the ransom that freed him from prison.

     The idea that Britain was a ‘pure’ Anglo-Saxon society before the arrival of communities from the Caribbean, Asia and Africa is fantasy. But if this view of British identity is false to our past, it is false to our future too. The global era has produced population movements of a breadth and richness without parallel in history. Today’s London is a perfect hub of the globe. It is home to over thirty ethnic communities of at least 10,000 residents each. In this city tonight, over 300 languages will be spoken by families over their evening meal at home. This pluralism is not a burden we must reluctantly accept. It is an immense asset that contributes to the cultural and economic vitality of our nation.

     Legitimate immigration is the necessary and unavoidable result of economic success, which generates a demand for labour faster than can be met by the birthrate of a modern developed country. Our cultural diversity is one of the reasons why Britain continues to be the preferred location for multinational companies setting up in Europe.

      (3) ___________ . Our lifestyles and cultural horizon have also been broadened in the process. It reaches into every aspect of our national life.

     Chicken Tikka Massala is now a true British national dish, not only because it is the most popular, (4) _____________ Chicken Tikka is an Indian dish. The Massala sauce was added to satisfy the desire of British people to have their meat served in gravy.

     The modern notion of national identity cannot be based on race and ethnicity, (5)___________. Some of the most successful countries in the modem world, such as the United States and Canada, are immigrant societies. Their experience shows how cultural diversity, allied to a shared concept of equal citizenship, can be a source of enormous strength. We should draw inspiration from that experience.

 

Task 1. Match the sentences (a-f) with the gaps in the text (1-5). There is one extra sentence that you do not need.

 

1. And it isn’t just our economy that has been enriched by the arrival of new communities.
2. perhaps even in a state of terminal decline
3. because of the linguistic variety of the population
4. but because it is a perfect  illustration of the way Britain absorbs and adapts external influences
5. but the religion in them was secured by the succession of a Dutch prince
6. but must be based on shared ideals and aspirations

 

 

Text 5 
Places to Visit

A   York