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Attitudes - Public spiritedness and amateurism

4 important questions on Attitudes - Public spiritedness and amateurism

Explain the British 'Cult of the talented amateur'. Give examples.

Being too professionally dedicated is looked at with suspicion. Society is best served by everybody 'chipping in'. Everybody is supposed to spend time on helping out and charity. Examples are: the structure of the civil cervice (non experts at the job for years on end), the badly accomodated circumstances under which the MP's do their work, the use of unpaid non-lawyers in the legal system and some aspects of the educational system. Lately the Neighbourhood Watch scemes have increased and charity is a very important part of British life.

Why have a lot of large well-known charities started in the UK?

Voluntary activity is a basic part of life. Whole communities work together for charity funds and sometimes whole countrywide networks have been set up without government interference.

Mention some Charities that began in Britain

Oxfam; Amnesty International; Save the Children and the World Wildlife Fund.

What kind of magazine is 'Which' ?

It is a magazine that capaigns to protect consumers by exposing abuses in the marketplace, investigating trickery by manufacturers and comparing different companies' brands of the same product. it started in a garage and now has 650,000 members and self over 900,000 copies.

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

Britain - for Learners of English | 9780194306447 | James O'Driscoll

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