#britpick

[7-percent]

Britain's New Prime Minister

For those unfamiliar with British politics, the fact that we have a new PM may be confusing. "When was the election?" I hear you cry.

Well, here's a little primer on the mother of all parliamentary democracies.

Because the King (or Queen) is the head of state, we have no president, no !Executive Branch". Ever since England formally became a constitutional monarchy in 1689 during the Glorious Revolution, Parliament is supreme. The reign of William and Mary saw Parliament permanently limit royal authority and bar Catholics from the throne.

Parliamnent passes laws which are presented by the leader of the largest political party in the House of Commons. So a Prime Minister is first a Party Leader. He or she forms a cabinet of ministers, all of whom MUST be in Parliament. Most are elected MPs of the House of Commons, some will be drawn from the House of Lords. It is rare but not unheard of that a person is given a life peerage in order to become a minister, but it is unusual.

These MP Ministers are the "executive branch". They are regularly hauled in front of House of Commons committees to be questioned about their policies and progress on them. They are in effect judged by their peers.

So what happens when the elected MPs in the political party that has won a general election falls out with its leader? He or she gets the boot- either through a formal vote of no confidence in the party;s parliamentary meetings, or nowadays when an election for party leader is triggered by 81 MPs signing a petition. If there is a formala election, members of the party and other stakeholders (the unions, in Labour's case) can have a vote and can overrule what the MPs in the party want (which is why Jeremy Corbin was elected Labour Party leader, while in opposition).

Yet this process did not happen when Sir Kier Starmer stepped down as Prime Minister and was replaced by Andy Burnham. In fact, the sitting PM has resigned more often than not, when faced with the inevitable.

The legislature cannot be by-passed. Andy Burnham wasn't an MP in the House of Commons until June 18. He'd been one before and stood for party leader elections twice before without getting chosen.

This time he was. An incumbent Labour MP resigned his seat, triggering a by-election where Andy Burnham was the Labout candidate. He won a landslide and as soon as he was sworn in as an MP no Labour MP was willing to stand in a party election against him. He automatically became the party leader and when Sir Keir went to the King formally to resign, Andy Burnham went to the King on the same afternoon and became Prime Minister.

In fact, Britain has had seven different prime ministers in ten years, and only three general elections. Although this may seem odd to outsiders, it's happened many times before. Since 1900, HH Asquith, David Lloyd George, Winston Churchill, Harold Macmillian, Anthony Eden, James Callaghan, Gordon Brown. Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak, all became PM without a general election, although many went on later to win an election.

The political party that forms the government holds its leaders to account- and so does Parliament as a whole. WIth the PM facing formal questions in the House of Commons every week Parliament is in session, he or she has to keep their cabinet, other ministers, and back benchers happy - or face being replaced.

Clearly, Sir Keir Starmer failed in this and so was replaced.

If you have any questions about British Parliamentary matters, do ask me. In RL I was a Head of Parliamentary Relations for a number of organisations.

[7-percent]

Hello seven! I am writing a 'Holmes family next generation' fic. Yeah the same Sherlock/Shruti verse. And, while of course I'll search the net — Do you have a Brit Pick post on the "British Education System" ? It'll be really helpful. Thanks beforehand. 🤓

LOTS of Britpicks on the British education system. Search in my blog under #britpicking and then #english schools, english school system.

I have done a whole series of Britpicks on the English education system, starting with Primary School, Secondary School, and University, both undergraduate and graduate.

Primary schools can be found by searching my blog for #British schools and #English School system for fanfic writers

It may be necessary to do these without the capital letter at the start of the hashtag- sometimes Tumblr does it automatically in lower case, and I didn't realise that.

Secondary schools can be found by searching in my blog for #english school system and #English Education System

University education can be found by searching in my blog for #British universities and #University in Britain. If you are keen on Oxford or Cambridge, you can search on #oxbridge, #oxford university and #cambridge university.

Unfortunately, consistency in hashtags is NOT something I have been very good at doing (SORRY!)

I apologise that my blog posts are not easily searchable for two different hashtags (blame Tumblr?). I have often used #britpick and #britpickiing interchangeably because when I first started doing these, I had no idea I would be doing so many!

This question and another one on English sports made me realise that I might want to use PDFs to put these into Ao3 where multiple hashtag searching is easier. The only challenge there is dealing with so many images (I'm not great at embedding things in Ao3)!

I hope this helps!

[7-percent]

DOCTOR John Watson

Quite a few fanfic authors deal with John's return to the UK from Afghanistan by having him switch from being a trauma surgeon to another specialism - be it general practitioner (GP as Mofftiss did) or working in an A&E department. Being a canon writer as much as possible, I do write him as being a GP in my later stories.

You may find it interesting to note that this is not as simple as it is often made out to be.

First of all, he would not be allowed by the General Medical Council to retain his licence as a surgeon; the periodic spasm of his dominant hand (due to PTSD) would disqualify him. Mofftiss were beding the rules horribly when they put him in Sarah's GP surgery.

In fact, to keep his medical licence he would need to re-train into another specialism.

To move from being a trauma surgeon to being a general practitioner would involve getting a CCT (Certificate of Completion of Training) in General Practice. It typically takes three years of full time training (so no leaping off to do cases with Sherlock whenever he called). Some credit may have been given (there are two different pathways; the Accreditation of Transferable Capabilities (ATC) or the Portfolio Pathway) which could cut a bit of time from that, but not much. He'd also have to pass the Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners (MRCGP) exam. All of the above would take tuition fees, offset only slightly by whatever clinical hours he could get, ideally in a GP surgery- but they don't tend to hire a lot of salaried junior doctors. GPs are independent of the NHS and own their own practices (see another of my medical Britpicks on GPs)

To move from no longer being able to serve as a trauma surgeon to an A&E consultant would take a serious amount of re-training, too.

Doctors with specialized training in surgery, acute medicine, anaesthetics, or intensive care still have to complete higher specialty training in emergency medicine, which usually takes around 3-4 years, including completing the FRCEM (Fellowship of the College of Emergency Medicine) exams. And then there are specialised courses after that - TLS (Advanced Trauma Life Support), APLS (Advanced Paediatric Life Support), and Trauma Team Essentials Course (TTEC).

All of that takes tuition fees and time. So realistically, it wasn't an option for John as portrayed in the broadcast series.

All that said, it could be possible that he was starting the training before TRF, and completed it during Sherlock's time away, if you make that last three years. He might well have been in the final phase of training - working in-house at a surgery where he met Mary. That works a bit better than the idea of him as a GP locum in series one and two.

[7-percent]

I love your Britpicks!

Could you tell us a bit about the British school system? Both for Sherlock/John kidfics and for stories about Rosie?

I am alway a bit overwhelmed with the different types of school and of course especially the public vs private school system and dont want to make up complete nonsense.

I have done a whole series of Britpicks on the English education system, starting with Primary School, Secondary School, and University, both undergraduate and graduate.

Primary schools can be found by searching my blog for #British schools and #English School system for fanfic writers

Secondary schools can be found by searching in my blog for #english school system and #English Education System

University education can be found by searching in my blog for #British universities and #University in Britain. If you are keen on Oxford or Cambridge, you can search on #oxbridge, #oxford university and #cambridge university.

Unfortunately, consistency in hashtags is NOT something I have been very good at doing (SORRY!)

I apologise that my blog posts are not easily searchable for two different hashtags (blame Tumblr?). I have often used #britpick and #britpickiing interchangeably because when I first started doing these, I had no idea I would be doing so many!

This question and another one on English sports made me realise that I might want to use PDFs to put these into Ao3 where multiple hashtag searching is easier. The only challenge there is dealing with so many images (I'm not great at embedding things in Ao3)!

[7-percent]

British Vocabulary U and Non-U

U and non-U English usage is yet another feature of language which podficcers and fan fiction writers of British characters need to understand.

"U" stands for the upper class and "non-U" represents the aspiring middle and lower classes. It was part of the terminology of the popular discourse of social dialects (sociolects) in Britain in the 1950s.

It all started in 1954 with the British linguist Alan S. C. Ross, professor of linguistics at the University of Birmingham. The article was published in a Finnish journal about the teaching of English. Most of it concerned differences in accent and pronunciation, but what managed to get into the public media back in Britain was his comments on vocabulary.

Nancy Mitford (a member of the British Upper class) popularised the concept in an article she wrote for Encounter, a literary magazine. It unleashed an anxious national debate about English class consciousness and snobbery, which involved a good deal of soul-searching that itself provided fuel for the fires.

Napkin (U) vs Serviette (Non-U)

Bike (U) vs Cycle (Non-U)

Sick (U) vs Ill (Non-U)

Lavatory Paper (U) vs Toilet Paper (Non-U)

House (U) vs Home (Non-U)

Looking glass (U) vs. Mirror (Non-U)

Jam (U) vs Preserves (Non-U)

Rich (U) vs Wealthy (Non-U)

Napkin (U) vs Serviette (Non-U)

Pudding (U) vs Dessert (Non-U)

Sofa (U) vs Couch or settee (Non-U)

Rich (U) vs Wealthy (Non-U)

Die (U) vs Pass On (Non-U)

Graveyard (U) vs Cemetery (Non-U)

You might have noticed that many of the “non-U” word choices are pretentious and overly wordy. Mitford actually says that the “non-U” speakers are mostly among the middle class- the lower classes tend to use the same words as the U speakers. The reason for this is that the lower and upper classes were pretty comfortable with their station and it was only the middle classes that were striving to “better themselves” by using fancy words that they thought sounded upper class.

Now, Mitford’s essay wasn’t completely accepted as truth, even at the time. And since the 1950s, a lot of those distinctions have been homogenised.

Even so, the British still retain a keen interest in snobbery- mostly directed at what they called "social climbers"- ie, those who aspired to move up a class. The epitome of this was Hyacinth Bucket (she pronounced it "Bouquet) in the television series, Keeping Up Appearances.

Various attempts have been made to modernise the concept of U/Non-U. Sloane Rangers versus Essex Girls was a popular comparison in the late 1990s and early 2000s, epitomised by Lady Diana Spencer.

Nouveau riche taste, too, has always been the great horror of the U set. Basically, if your furniture is 900 years old, inherited, and covered in old whisky stains, you’re acceptably posh. If you bought it new from Harrods, you’re trying far too hard.

Equally, teacup dogs or pampered cats are deeply common. The upper classes have gun dogs, and they keep nameless cats only for catching mice around the stables. In 2019, society bible Tatler Magazine updated the U-list and added ‘dietary requirements’, ‘mouthwash’, ‘being friends with your parents,’ and ‘elaborate gin and tonics,’ prompting a sneer that "we’re back to rattling fishbowls again, with sprigs of thyme and juniper, and it’s all a bit Girls’ Night Out." 

The key here is to notice that English vocabulary used by your characters in fanfic will define them, signalling to the other characters a great many subtexts.

[7-percent]

MORE British and American Pronunciation Differences

My previous post stirred up a bit of a storm. OF COURSE, regional differences exist in both versions of English! I am not suggesting that EVERY American or EVERY Brit pronounces things the same way. However, if you look at what is called "Received English" it has an interesting definition:

noun. the form of educated English spoken originally in southern England and having Received Pronunciation as a chief distinguishing feature.

Received Pronunciation (RP) is the accent traditionally regarded as the standard and most prestigious form of spoken British English. Traditionally spoken by the elites, it is taught in England's public schools (private schools in the USA). As early as 1869 RP was thought of as the language of "the metropolis, the pulpit, and the bar"-- in other words, the pronunciation of the urban businessman, the clergy, and the legal profession.

In fact, “Public School Pronunciation” was the term that phonetician Daniel Jones used to refer to the upper-class accent in his English Pronouncing Dictionary (1917) before he adopted the term “Received Pronunciation” in the second edition (1924) of the work. 

Received Pronunciation (RP) is sometimes referred to as the “Queen’s English,” the “King’s English,” or “Oxford English". In 1922, It was the form of pronunciation used in the BBC, although more regional accents have been infiltrating over the past thirty years.

As someone who worked in a professional career before teaching communication at university to a wide range of British and overseas students, I know that "oracy" (along with numeracy and literacy) is an important skill for getting a job. Sounding "common" in an interview for a well-paid professional or managerial role was almost certain to result in a rejection. There is a lot of regional prejudice and class issues behind how one speaks in the UK!

Here are some more differences between American and RP English speakers:

Progress US /prahg-ress/; UK /PRO- gress/

Process US /prah-sess/; UK /PRO- sess/

Controversy US /KON-tro-VER-sy/; UK /Kon-TROV-er-sy/

Bath US /baath/ like cat; UK /bah-th/ like bar.

Princess US /PRIN-sess/; UK /prin-SESS)

Brochure US /Bbro-SHUR/; UK /BRO-shur/

Debris US /de-BREE); UK (DAY-bree)

Detail US /dee-TAIL/; UK (DEE-tail)

Premature US/ pree-MAH-chur/;UK/preh·muh·CHUR/

What is interesting in all these things is how ofter individuals will use a mixture of pronunciations, depending on their age. The younger British English speaker will often use American pronunciations, due to their exposure to film, social media, music, and other popular cultural activities that have crossed the Atlantic

So when you are writing fics (or podficcing) think about the age of your characters and if they are English, then the impact of class and education.

[7-percent]

The London Drug Scene 1990s

An ask by @nyxneon who would like some help regarding the London drug scene, especially in the 1990s. I rubbed my hands with glee because I have extensively researched this for my own fics.

Those were the days... and it is very, very different now.

The 1970s had seen a bit of heroin usage in London, mostly linked to the hippy culture. It was heavily criticised in the press but generally speaking, drug abuse of all kinds was treated as a medical issue with users and addicts being seen as a medical problem. In fact, some doctors would legally prescribe opiates to wean addicts off of illegal heroin.

By the late 1980s, things had changed.  In the wake of the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, cheap heroin flooded into Europe. Within five years, London was in the midst of a heroin epidemic.

Crime- particularly theft - to fund a habit was now an issue and law enforcement cracked down. Drug abuse was politicised. Heroin chic became a thing; fashion brand models flaunted the emaciated, wrecked look.

Street language for heroin varied: common terms were "smack", "H", "junk", "skag", "horse", "brown", "beast", and "hero".

BUT, it's interesting what demographics were involved. In the mid-1980s, youth began to shift. IV drug users were fuelling the AIDS epidemic, so more and more people turned to extensive 'recreational' use of drugs like cannabis, amphetamines and ecstasy. This is the era of raves and clubbing. (subject of another Britpick?) London's youth was high on dancing, music and "soft drugs" that kept their bodies moving and their minds euphoric. By the first half of the 1990s heroin was seen (and avoided) by most young people as a highly addictive drug used only by 'junkies'.

Marijuana

The vocabulary about marijuana changed over the decades, too. What to a hippy was pot, or dope, became hash, ganja, or weed in London, due in part to the large Afro-Caribbean community (especially Jamaicans). The majority of weed originated in Holland; there were differing potency levels. Skunk was not widely available until the late 1990s.

Amphetamines

Recreational amphetamine use hit a peak in the seventies, driven mainly by three disparate subcultures: the ‘hippy’, Northern Soul and Punk scenes. They came with a wide dictionary. Commonly used slang terms include “speed,” "crank", “sweeties,” “addys,” “zoomers,” “pixies,” “jelly babies,” “beans,” “chunk,” “cartwheels,” “French blues,” “horse heads,” and “black mollies.”

The 1980s and early nineties Ecstacy boom was linked to the clubbing and illegal rave scene. The effects were often described as "rolling". Drugs were easily bought and sold at all venues, both legal (clubs) and illegal raves (warehouses in East London in particular).

By the mid-1990s, a lot of casual users were switching to cocaine. Crystal meth wasn't a big thing in London in the 1990s and 2000s. It wasn't until 2007 that Methamphetamine was reclassified as a Class A illegal drug in the UK. Even today, it is used only in a small subculture- gay men in chemsex parties are the principal market.

Cocaine

Cocaine became a thing in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a feature of Generation X, especially from the City of London's financial staff whose bonuses fuelled abuse. PRs and journalists; party people and celebrities. Slang names included "Bugle", "Nose", "Charlie", "Chisle", "Baggy""White Chalk", "Apache", "Big C", "Blonde", "Blow", "Candy", "Snowflake", "Love", "Scottie", "White Girl", "Zip".

Lines of cocaine were also called "rails". The powder is sold in "wraps" -folded paper, film or foil. Where you sourced the drug depended on your "network"; partygoers and City workers wouldn't be caught buying on the street; supplies were passed up through a network of friends, colleagues, etc. Everyone who was anyone with money and status knew someone who knew someone able to supply.

Back then it was a class thing- powder or rock. Crack cocaine started later in the UK than the powder; its use boomed in deprived areas with low employment and poor housing; the London estates. The Deptford area of north Lewisham was dubbed ‘Crack City’ in the 1990s. Now crack is everywhere, in every city, and powder is just as easy to get for a manual worker as a banker.

Crack is sold in "pebs", "rocks", or "gravel". Crack cocaine has its own slang: "Black Rock", "Dice", "Gravel", "Ice Cubes", "Nuggets", "RIP", "White Tornado", "Base" or "freebase".

It's an ethnic thing - crack was more popular amongst black clubbers in the 1990s. It was also closely associated with prostitution and therefore with certain areas of London known for sex workers- eg Kings Cross.

Drugs that were NOT popular or around in the 1990s

It's easy to assume that a drug available in the USA would be equally so in the UK. Ketamine wasn't a thing until well into the 2000s. Vicodin wasn't big. Fentanyl didn't exist outside of a hospital back then. More exotic synthetics and designer drugs were not around either. Do your research!

Street sales

Back in the 1990s, sales were done face-to-face- no internet or mobile phones. "Trapping" was another name for selling on the street; "traps" were where dealers would sell for people to use in situ. Slang names for dealers included "man", "link" or "joey". "Runners" and "Storers" move and store illegal drugs. These are distinct from couriers and traffickers who bring the drugs into the country.

"Trap houses" or "bandos" were abandoned houses or flats taken over by gangs, to sell drugs, allow buyers to use in the premises, even to store drugs.

Dealers and the traps are managed by gangs- even back in the 1990s. Located in areas jealously guarded, wars were fought to protect monopolies. Tottenham Mandem, Peckham Boys, Brixton Boys were some of the more notable ones. In the 1990s there were at least twenty gangs, with sales points inside their own territories, usually in close proximity to a housing estate where lookouts could warn dealers to disappear when the police came around.

What happened next

The mobile phone and the internet changed drug sales forever. No longer a street thing; deliveries by bike courier, or click-and-collect at a local bar or other venues where there are a lot of people around and no cameras. Old phone boxes are used, too, for drops, paid for by credit card.

I could go on and on... but if you have specific questions relating to your characters in particular parts of London, do ask!

[7-percent]

British "Everyday Food"

If your fic puts two English men living together, you may want to know what they might be eating, apart from toast and takeaways.

Although the London-based bachelor community might well be keen on takeaway meals or food delivery services, unless they are fabulously wealthy or incredibly lazy, some home cooking will be involved.

If you are a Sherlock fic writer, remember that John Watson is a doctor and will care about good nutrition. Ultra-processed foods in the shape of "ready meals" bought from a supermarket and then microwaved before serving - well, these are generally high in fats, sugars, salt and other ingredients that will spark worries.

So, thanks to an anon asking "about stuff that they will have every morning without much preparation needed," I can offer the following suggestions:

Breakfasts

Toast is still the ultimate convenience food. These days, it is more likely that butter will not be used; a plant-based spread. As a doctor, John would look to something like Benecol (known to reduce cholesterol).

Cereal is another standby. A box of bran flakes with a banana sliced up on top is quick and filling. Watson would go for whole grain, vitamin-fortified, low-sugar varieties. Sherlock would be a fan of the sweeter versions (and yes, Kellogg's cereals are ubiquitous). I can see Rosie and Sherlock ganging up to demand something really unhealthy. like coco pops.

In winter, the Brits do like their porridge. It's microwavable, or cooked on a stovetop for less than ten minutes to the desired consistency, then served with a spoonful of golden syrup, fruit (either dried or fresh). There was an advertising campaign that both John and Sherlock will remember from their childhood about a cream of wheat hot breakfast cereal called "ready brek"; I can see John telling Rosie "It's central heating for kids" on a cold morning.

Neither of the men are likely to be bakers; If Mrs Hudson doesn't oblige, there is always Speedy's, which will have a choice of Danish pastries and croissants. But, John will be telling Rosie about the "five a day" requirement of fruit and veggies, so will want to have fruit as often as possible. Tinned peaches are a store-cupboard staple in many British homes.

For the weekends, when there isn't a case on then a fry-up or the "full English" breakfast is the star. Fried eggs, fried back bacon, a couple of sausages, maybe some fried mushrooms and a tomato, even "fried bread" - a slice of white thrown in the pan at the end to soak up all the oil and juices, left in just long enough to char a bit. If you're really hungry a small tin of baked beans can be added, too. One frying pan crammed full of yumminess. And- it can be had for breakfast, lunch or dinner. In our household, it's a dinner.

Lunches

Here the Brits can be more flexible. Soup is a regular standby. I can see John eyeing the labels carefully to look for low salt, low sugar tins. There is also a wide selection of fresh soups available in supermarkets. Preservatives will give them a longish shelf life in the fridge of several weeks. My Watson's favourite is pea and ham, with spinach. If you want to do some research on your own, look at the Tesco online shopping site. My fav is roasted tomato and basil.

Tinned tuna or tinned salmon can have mayonnaise added and served with "leaves"- a bag of mixed lettuces that every supermarket will sell. They don't last long (this one is only 2 days), but are already washed and won't go limp the way a head of lettuce would.

Another popular hot lunch is a "jacket"- a baked potato with some topping- grated cheddar cheese is popular. The microwave reduces cooking time dramatically; finished with ten minutes in a hot oven to crisp the skin up.

Obviously, sandwiches are also common (well, the Brits invented them!). I can see Rosie getting jam sandwiches; John will be partial to cheese and pickle (chutney-type rather than an actual pickle). "Toasties" are sandwiches stuffed into a tasting bag and put into a toaster (now you know why so many British toasters have wide slots!) The cheese melts, the bread is toasted, and a hot sandwich emerges. Lunch is served!

Dinners

If our bachelors are not looking at a takeaway menu or dragging a ready-meal out of the freezer, here are a few standby meals that are easy to cook and found in most family homes in England.

Fish and chips. Freezers (and yes, there is one in 221b if John can save a drawer for food rather than Sherlock's experiments on body parts) mean that frozen breaded fish and oven chips are available. It takes about 25 minutes in a hot oven and dinner is served.

Spaghetti bolognaise. According to some surveys, it's the second most popular meal in Britain (after fish and chips) You can buy jars of sauce to pour over minced beef that you've browned off while the pasta cooks, all done in just fifteen minutes. If you decide to make your own, tinned tomatoes, onions and mushrooms with a squeeze of tomato puree will do nicely and be ready in 20 minutes, while you boil the water for the pasta. A scrape of parmesan cheese helps. There are plenty of tinned versions for the really lazy.

Cottage or shepherd's pie. Brown off beef (cottage) or lamb (shepherd) mince with chopped onion, carrot and a handful of frozen peas. Add various bottled sauces (our fav is HP sauce and a bit of tomato ketchup) and a quarter pint of stock made from a cube. Boil some potatoes and mash them for a topping, then into the oven to cook for 30-45 minutes. We always make twice as much as we want and freeze the other half for a microwaveable quickie.

Stir-Fry: one way to get veggies into people is to do a stir-fry. Wok oils with garlic, spices and chilli already added go into the wok, throw in a bit of protein (prawns, chopped up bits of chicken, beef or lamb) add a prepared stir-fry sauce. Serve on noodles that take less than ten minutes of cooking time. You can even get pre-cooked noodle packs with a sauce that you add at the end. A hot healthy meal in ten to twenty minutes; the chopping takes the longest time.

Tray-baked chicken: One-pot meals are even quicker if your character has an air fryer. Chicken pieces, some potatoes cut into wedges, maybe some veggies, coat with olive oil, lemon juice and herb marinade and roast.

Bangers and mash: If you're really in a hurry, there are always sausages fried up, served with mashed potato and a bit of onion gravy that comes in a tin, or even a cube that is made by adding boiling water from a kettle.

Roast dinners: chicken, lamb leg and of course a joint of beef (topside, rump, rolled sirloin) served with roast potatoes, gravy and a two veg. The traditional Sunday lunch. For beef, don't forget the Yorkshire pudding; you can buy these already made, both frozen and fresh.

It takes time to do it all from scratch but is SO worth it.

So, the next time you are writing a fic with your characters at home wondering what to eat, these are some ideas.