4. present britain (1900 - now)

Question 1

who could vote after 1884?

Answer 1

most working men over 21

Question 2

what did the liberal party introduce between 1906 and 1911?

Answer 2

-old age pension
-national insurance
-free school meals

Question 3

when were women given the right to vote?

Answer 3

1928

Question 4

when was the NHS set up?

Answer 4

1948

Question 5

religion

Answer 5

in the 1900s:
most still went to church, atheism & agnosticism were growing

now:
2011 census said 63% = christian, most did not go to church
-28% = atheist

Question 6

science & tech

Answer 6

in the 1900s:
-cars and the use of electricity in homes were becoming more popular
-developments in cinema, radio and telegraph communications
-people could travel around more quickly

now:
-televisions, computers, planes, the internet, phones
-antibiotics

Question 7

leisure

Answer 7

in the 1900s:
-workers had saturday afternoons & sundays off work
-people went to watch football and cricket, but also spent much of their free time being playing sport or cycling

now:
-holiday time
-focus on less physical activity, like watching sport on TV, listening to music and watching films

Question 8

1909 housing act

Answer 8

banned the building of any new back-to-back houses

Question 9

1919 housing act

Answer 9

-ordered local councils to build council houses so the councils themselves would act as landlords
-250,000 new homes were built, funded by taxpayers’ money
-they had to meet standards for space, water supply and drainage

(the worst slums still remained)

Question 10

1930 housing act

Answer 10

-forced private landlords to sell slum housing to local councils
-councils could then clear the slums and build new, clean homes on the land
-govt grants were made available to fund this
-by 1939, over 240,000 slum houses had been cleared and 700,000 new homes built

Question 11

apartments

Answer 11

-by the 1960s, council housing included flats
-by the 1980s, around 4,500 tower blocks had been built & almost all homes had heating, water and sanitation

Question 12

why did residents dislike apartments?

Answer 12

there was a lack of outside space & they felt very different from the neighbourhoods they had moved from

Question 13

by 1980 how many people lived in council housing?

Answer 13

42% of the population

Question 14

margaret thatcher & housing

Answer 14

margaret thatcher thought that too many people were becoming dependent on the government, she wanted more people to own their own homes

-the 1980 housing act gave council tenants the right to buy their houses, it led to a shortage of council houses for poorer people in need of them
-there were nearly 6.5 mill council homes in 1979, by 2017 there were only around 2 mill

Question 15

what are issues with private, rented houses?

Answer 15

reports since 2000 have shown that only half of private rented accommodation meets the required standard

Question 16

food supply improvements

Answer 16

-new methods of grinding grain improved the quality of bread
-fridges meant that more food could be brought from abroad
-cheaper & longer-lasting canned foods became more widely available.
-large supermarket chains -> open every day, stocked food more reliably than markets

Question 17

food supply problems

Answer 17

in WW2, britain’s food supply was disrupted and rationing was introduced, this restricted people’s access to food

Question 18

diet improvements

Answer 18

-rationing improved people’s diet because they were encouraged to keep animals and grow their own food & items like sugar and butter were in short supply
-diets were generally healthier and more balanced
-the nation became wealthier on the whole and more people could afford fridges and freezers

Question 19

problems with ready made meals & convenience meals

Answer 19

-the microwave and an increase in working parents means that more people use ready-made meals/convenience food
-these processed dishes are not as healthy as fresh food, as they have additives so that they last longer

Question 20

sugar and obesity

Answer 20

-people’s diets contain more calories, sugar and saturated fat
-in 2013, almost a quarter of the British population were classified as obese -> diseases like diabetes and heart disease

Question 21

BSE

Answer 21

-in 1996, BSE affected cattle
-the disease could pass to humans if they ate beef from an infected animal

Question 22

issue with antibiotics & animals

Answer 22

-antibiotics are regularly given to farm animals
-eating their meat could mean that human bodies become resistant to antibiotics

Question 23

rickets

Answer 23

-in the early 1900s, many children got rickets (a bone disease caused by lack of vitamin D)
-because they had a poor diet & lived in dark houses, where there was a lack of sunlight
-in 2014, a report said that cases of rickets were rising again, children were eating too much processed food & spending too much time indoors

Question 24

the great smog

Answer 24

-over a week of intense smog (smoke was trapped under fog) in london in 1952, which alerted people to poor air quality
-around 12,000 people died

Question 25

which health issues did smog cause?

Answer 25

bronchitis, pneumonia and asthma

Question 26

clean air act 1956

Answer 26

-‘smokeless’ zones where factories and homes were only allowed to burn
‘smokeless’ fuel
-new oil, gas and electric heating systems, meant that smog was far less of a problem by the 1980s

Question 27

the impact of cars

Answer 27

car ownership increased by 25% between 1980 and 1990, leading to more health problems caused by exhaust fumes (eg: cancer)

Question 28

inactivity caused by wealth

Answer 28

-dropping levels of exercise became a problem as much of britain’s population became richer

by around 1930, this had led to people being less healthy because:
-more people travelled by train, tram and car rather than on foot
-they spent more money on sugary and fatty foods

-labour-saving devices for the home (such as washing machines and vacuum cleaners) were becoming more affordable

Question 29

how did WW2 increase activity?

Answer 29

-food was rationed so people worked in their gardens and allotments, growing vegetables
-petrol was also rationed so people walked more

Question 30

the impact of technology

Answer 30

-people use TVs, game consoles and tablets for entertainment
-some people’s lifestyles are more sedentary than they used to be (housework is less physical: washing machines, vacuum cleaners)
-more jobs are carried out by sitting at desks in front of screens, fewer jobs involve manual labour

Question 31

in 2020, how many british people were obese/overweight

Answer 31

women: 60%
men: 67%

Question 32

spanish influenza

Answer 32

a lethal flu virus that killed 50 million worldwide

Question 33

spanish flu symptoms

Answer 33

-fit, younger people, between ages 20 and 40, were worst affected

the symptoms were initially the same as those of other types of flu:
-high temperature
-chills
-headaches

-but, the virus often attacked the immune system & victims to developed a bacterial pneumonia
-skin to turned red, blue and black
-victims bled from the nose, mouth and ears

Question 34

waves of the spanish flu

Answer 34

Ist: march 1918
-relatively mild, the war was still being fought, so nobody paid much attention

2nd: autumn 1918
-was the worst, was quickly spread by soldiers returning home from the war & the huge crowds celebrating the end of the war

Question 35

national responses to spanish influenza

Answer 35

the government issued a public information film that advised people to:
-stay at home and avoid public transport and crowds if they had symptoms
-Use handkerchiefs when coughing or sneezing
-keep places of work clean
-wear face masks if it was necessary to be near flu patients

the film was designed to shock people so that they paid attention to the dangers and took preventative measures (it showed the number of deaths)

Question 36

why was the film ineffective?

Answer 36

-the film was not given out until late in the second wave, and there weren’t enough copies.
-there was no coordinated lockdown across the country, local authorities were left to organise themselves

Question 37

when was the ministry of health set up?

Answer 37

1919

Question 38

what was the ministry of health?

Answer 38

a national organisation dedicated to developing health policy

Question 39

dr james niven

Answer 39

-in manchester, dr james niven, worked tirelessly to limit the flu’s spread
-he published advice about hygiene and organised the closure of businesses and schools
-the death rate was lower in manchester than in other cities

Question 40

local responses to spanish influenza

Answer 40

-schools, theatres, cinemas and dance halls were shut down
-some also disinfected public transport
daily
-factories kept going, pubs mostly stayed open
-the press wasn’t always helpful: the manchester guardian mocked suggested measures: “women are not going to wear ugly masks”

Question 41

HIV & AIDS

Answer 41

-HIV is transmitted by body fluids, cuts and injecting drugs using shared needles.
-immediately after infection, people suffer mild flu-like symptoms, these pass & infected people might not know they are infected

-without treatment, the virus continues to attack the person’s immune system, leaving the body’s defences open to infection and illness
-in these late stages of the virus the infection is categorised as AIDS

Question 42

symptoms of HIV

Answer 42

-pneumonia
-weight loss
-sores on the skin

Question 43

phase 1 - growing awareness
(1970s - 1983)

Answer 43

-terrence higgins trust set up research and raised awareness for AIDS- no one was concerned
-first sign of interest was 1983 as lots of people developed aids after a blood transfusion
-the govt begged gay people & drug addicts to stop donating blood
-a newspaper was published about
AIDS and two documentaries followed (they emphasised the connection with gay men)
-ppl said AIDS could be stopped if homosexual sex stopped and drug addicts stopped their addictions
-church leaders said that AIDS was
God’s punishment against drug addicts and gays

Question 44

phase 2 - growing alarm
(1984-85)

Answer 44

-ppl didn’t know how AIDS was spread & overreacted, eg: firemen stopped doing mouth-to-mouth.
-in 1985, people’s fears increased when the royal college of nursing predicted wrongly that there would be 1 million cases of AIDS in
1991
-govt ordered hospitals to detain patients with AIDS
-doctors and visitors had to wear gowns, masks and gloves

Question 45

phase 3 - growing understanding
(1986-87)

Answer 45

-charity groups run by churches gave clean needles to drug addicts, & reduced cross-infection
-free testing for HIV & the screening of blood donations was ordered by the govt
-the govt sent an leaflet about AIDS to every home in britain, TV shows were ran about how to not get AIDS
-myths on how AIDS were spread were stopped by things like poster campaigns.
-princess diana made sure that she was photographed taking a photo shaking hands with someone who had aids- people knew that it couldn’t be spread by contact

Question 46

phase 4 - growing acceptance
(1988-95)

Answer 46

-in 1991, a HIV positive character was included in eastenders
-freddie mercury died from AlDS in the same year
-in 1992, a tribute concert & a special release
of his songs raised £20million for AIDS
-AIDS was spreading but not as fast as the prediction

Question 47

phase 5 - growing complacency
(1996)

Answer 47

-in 1996, antiretrovirals delayed
AIDS in those with HIV
-people became complacent and cases of
HIV rose
-in 2009, there were 100,000 people in the UK with HIV
-40,000 were gay men and the rest were straight men and women
-¼ of those with HIV don’t know and spread it around unknowingly

Question 48

free school meals 1906

Answer 48

-local councils given power to give free meals to poor children
-less than half the authorities in england provided it
-made compulsory in 1914

Question 49

old age pensions 1908

Answer 49

-provided small pensions (5 shillings per week) for workers over 70
-the number of people seeking help from charities fell by over 80,000

Question 50

national insurance 1911

Answer 50

-national insurance covered all men & women who earned under £160 per year (around £12,500 in today’s money)
-workers, employers and the government all contributed to a fund each week

Question 51

how many people smoked in
1950?

Answer 51

80% of men, 40% of women

Question 52

1950 smoking study

Answer 52

the more a person smoked, the more likely they were to get lung cancer

Question 53

government action against smoking

Answer 53

1965
-TV adverts for cigarettes were banned

1971
-tobacco wrote health warnings on their packaging

1998
-the government offered free nicotine replacement therapy for people trying to give up smoking

2007
-smoking in all public places was completely banned, this was aimed at tackling ‘passive smoking’

2016
-parliament passed a law saying all cigarette packaging had to be completely plain

Question 54

change4life campaign

Answer 54

-aims to help families lead healthier lives by eating well and moving more
-included ideas for after-school activities and healthy recipes that children would enjoy.