The law

The most famous police station in Britain in New Scotland Yard in London, but there are police stations all over the country. They've all got a blue light outside to show they are police stations.
The police can arrest people in the street, but they also give information.
The new police station is in Lewisham an area in south-east London. There are custody room of the police station. A suspected criminal is being charged with a crime.
Next they take fingerprints to check the person's identity. They also take mouth swabs for analysis of DNA.
Next day they vent to court. Here three magistrates listen to evidence from the police and witnesses. The then decide if the person is guility or not guilty.
Police officers go out on horses every day.
The evidence tat the police collect from a crime scene is analysed in laboratories.
The people who work here are callek forensic scientists. They can examine and analyse material from the crime scene.
Fingerprints are a good way of identifying people but DNA is more reliable. Each person has got a unique DNA profile.
The police are the most obvious part of the law in Britain. Their job is to make sure that people don't break the law and to catch them when they do.

Supermarkets

Supermarkets are an important par of daily life in Britain.
The five biggest supermarkets sell 80% of all groceries. Tesco is the biggest. It's got nearly 2,000 shops in Britain and is the third biggest supermarket in the world.
Two of them, Asada and Tesco are also the biggest sellers of clothes in Britain.
In the large supermarkets you can buy just about anything.
The very big supermarkets are usually on the edge of towns and most people drive to them.
This of course means that they can buy more and take in home in the car.
A lot of people now use online shopping.
Small shops in towns and villages are closing because supermarkets can sell the same things cheaper. Many supermarkets are open 24 hours a day and seven days a week.

Soap operas

The most popular British soap operas are Eastenders and Coronation Street. These are popular dramas about the lives of ordinary people. There are usually three to five episodes each week. Many people are addicted to soap operas.
Eastenders is set in the east end of London and has been broadcast since 1975. Coronation Street is based in Manchester and it is the oldest soap.
As well as showing everyday life in the village there are sometimes special episodes.

Scotland

There are four main regions in Britain: England, Northeland Ireland, Wales and Scotland.
Scotland is in the nord of Britain and has got a lot of wild, mountainous countryside in the Highlands.

It's famous for its lakes which are called lochs in Scotland.
Scotland occupies one third of the land area of Britain.
The majority of Scottish people live in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Scotland has also got its own traditions.For specials occasions some Scottish men wear a kilt rather than trousers. The patterns are called "tartans".
The unusual instrument known as the bagpipes is also a part of Scottish tradition.

Sport is very important in Scotland. There are lots of golf courses.

There are lots of famous Scottish people. One of them is Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
In Scotland there are thousands of different whiskies.

Most of Scotland's income is from turism. They enjoy climbing mountains, fishing and visiting its famous castles and also like going to Loch Ness.

The weather

The weather is a very popular topic of conversation in Britain. That's because the weather changes a lot.
Sixty-fiver per cent of all the days in Britain are overcast - dull, grey and often cold. That's 260 dull days.

The seasons in Britain are fairly clear. Winter last from December to February. It's cold and wet but doesn't often snow. Spring is from March to May. It starts to get a bit warmer and there are more sunny days. The summer months are June, July and August when it can be very hot. Then the autumn - September, October, November - often has foggy, cold wet days and the leaves fall from the trees.

It's not surprising that Britain has got one of the most important weather centres in the world. They provide weather forecasts for radio, television and newspapers - and on the Internet.
Two huge supercomputers analyse information from many sources including satellites, This is very different from some of the early weather forecasts. These instruments were used for the earliest weather forecasts.
The Met Office also looks at environmental issues such as global warming and climate change. The computer can predict the tropical storms and hurricanes that cause so much damage around the world.

Reading

British people read a lot. They read books, newspapers and magazines. And of course they read text messages on their mobile phones. Sixty-five per cent of British people list " reading for pleasure" as a major hobby. A quarter of the population reads more than 20 books each year.

In the library you can borrow books but you can also buy a cup of coffee, look at an art exhibition, sit in a quiet study area of connect to the Internet.
You can also now borrow CDs, videos and DVDs of films and television programmes. Some libraries even let you borrow computer games.
There are often reference rooms where you can go to look something up or go to study.
Libraries are very important in schools and universities both for study and for reading for pleasure.

The British Library is one of the world's greatest libraries.
People predicted that radio, then television, then the Internet would kill reading, but it is still a very popular activity.

British sports

At the weekend in Britain, millions of people take part in some kind of sporting activity. Half of all men over 16 regularly participate in sport.
Even more people spend part of the weekend watching sport- especially football.
The top level of the game is professional football in the Premiership.
Football is played in schools and as a leisure activity. Both girls and boys play.

Cricket in the main summer sport in Britain. Local teams play in towns and villages every Saturday and Sunday from April to September.
Cricket is played between two teams of 11 people.

Tennis is another popular sport, especially in the summer after the famous Wimbledon championships. There are tennis courts all over Britain.
Other popular sports are golf, swimming, cycling, keep fit and walking. But there is no doubt that for most people football is the national sport.