See Britain through my eyes series updated and Patient care in the UK

Four years ago now, back in 2010, when we started out this blog, one of the first series of videos and activities we came up with was See Britain through my Eyes, based on the videos created by the Foreign Office to help people get to know what modern Britain is like in preparation of the 2012 London Olympic Games. In the videos, foreigners who have settled in Britain talk about their lives, their professions and the way the UK has helped them to enhance their careers.

The See Britain through my Eyes YouTube account was subsequently cancelled, but chance has had it that we've come across them on the UK Government's National Archives, where all the videos in the series are hosted and can be watched. Here is a list with the twelve videos we have published in the series so far.

• Life of a soldier in the UK
• Palestinian singer on freedom of speech
• UK design industry
• Jonathan Mills, Australian orchestra conductor
• Sir Steve Redgrave
• Reporter Zeinab Badawi on freedom of expression
• British fashion knows no bounds (Reem Alasadi)
• The British do things differently (Camila Batmanghelidjh, founder of the charity Kids Company)
• Photo journalist Andre Camara about equality in the UK
• Film, playwright, novelist and social commentator Bonnie Greer on London, a hub city for culture
• Italian-born astrophysicist Giovanna Tinetti on science and innovation
• Russian-born violin player Alina Ibragimova on love for music

And let's add one more video to the series, Patient Care in the UK, where Dr Claudia Bausewein tells us about palliative care in the UK.

Self-study activity:
Watch Dr Claudia Bausewein talk about patient care in the UK and say whether the statements below are true or false.




1. Palliative care started in the UK.
2. The key to palliative care is focusing on the disease.
3. There is not success in looking after dying patients.
4. Looking after the ill and disabled is not part of the UK culture.
5. When she was a student in Germany Dr Bausewein didn't really believe the information she was reading about palliative care in the UK.
6. The Cicely Saunders Institute was created by dame Cicely Saunders.

My name is Claudia Bausewein.  When I first came as a medical student, there was no palliative care setting in Germany at all. So, it was very clear to go to the place where it originated, where it started and where the best expertise was. And this is the UK obviously.
Britain is the country where the modern hospice movement started with Dame Cicely Saunders in the mid-60s. It was Dame Cicely who really put the patient in the center. And she taught us a lot regarding listening, how to deal with the patient, how to focus on their situation, seeing them from a holistic point of view, not only seeing them from their disease or illness.
As a researcher in palliative care, I work with other specialists and we try together to improve the care of the patients. We are not focusing on any diagnostic tests. We are focusing on the patient and their views, their experience.
Today we're going to be meeting one of my patients, Kim, who I've been doing some work with to help manage her breathlessness.
People often say there's no success if you look after dying patients. And I say it's always a question of how I define success. If success only means somebody needs healing or somebody has to be cured from a disease, then obviously we might not be successful.  But if success is that if somebody is coming in pain, maybe for weeks or months, hasn't slept well, and hasn't been able to be in contact with the family, [Are you practicing that at home as well regularly?] and if you are able to help them and to relieve the pain, breathing techniques that I've taught Kim and that she's been putting into action and if somebody is saying after a week, "Oh, I'm much better. I can sleep well, I've got my energy back," this is a huge success.
And hold. Okay. So relax those shoulders.
So for me it is very satisfying work, focusing on the human being that is sort of my partner.
And back, that's it.
Alright.
Health care in Britain is much more seen as part of the community and of society. I think looking after people is very much in the hearts and minds of people in this country. And really caring for people who are disabled, who are very ill, who are very old is very much part of how people want to be cared for. And also how people want other people to be cared for.
As a medical student in Germany, I was reading about palliative care or the hospice movement in the UK, and I thought, oh this sounds nice and this is really almost unrealistic. It sounded so wonderful. But when I came here and realized that this is really working. This is reality. This is not only a vision in a book, but I experienced it myself and became part of it. Becoming part of this hospice family was a great experience for me.
When Dame Cicely started this hospice movement, I think it was always her vision to have a center, a beacon for research for patient care and for education. This building, the Cicely Saunders Institute, really emphasizes that Britain is always ahead regarding research in palliative care. And now there is a building which is saying that palliative medicine and palliative care is important. We need them.
And now I would like to see that we not only do research here in the UK, but that we do high-quality research in Germany as well.

Key:
1T 2F 3F 4F 5T 6F

Life of a soldier in the UK

It's been a while since we last posted a video from the Foreign Office series See Britain through my Eyes.

Major Nana Twumasi-Ankrah tells us what being a member in the British army means for him, and he also talks about the diversity in the British army and in British society in general.

The video is a good follow-up to yesterday's talking point entry on war.

Self-study activity:
The activity is suitable for intermediate 2 students, although even students at this level may find it a bit daunting at times.

Use the questions in the activity as a guideline to follow what Major Nana Twumasi-Ankrah tells us. For that reason, it is best to listen to the clip through once or twice before you attempt to answer the questions.



1 Where was Major Nana Twumasi-Ankrah born?
2 When did he move to the UK?
3 How many men and horses does Major Nana Twumasi-Ankrah command?
4 In what state visit did he first take part in?
5 What symbols of British life style does he mention as having a high regard for?
6 Is British life more casual or more formal than it appears?
7 Why does he compare his regiment to a modern-day United Nations?

For self-correction you can read the transcript below.

I am Major Nana Twumasi-Ankrah of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment. I was born in Ghana but I now live in the United Kingdom.  And this is "See Britain Through My Eyes."
I moved to the United Kingdom in 1982 with my family. I was the first black officer commissioned within the Household Division and into the Household Cavalry itself. It's the most senior regiment in the British Army.  I command 120 men and 120 horses here in London.
As a young child watching Her Majesty the Queen's birthday parade on the television, I would have never ever imagined that one day I would command the regiment which I had fallen in love with on that day.
We serve on operations in Afghanistan. We do that in light armored vehicles, for want of a better word, tanks. We are modern soldiers at the forefront of British operations, who have served with the most modern equipment. I think this symbolizes one of the best things about being British, the ability to have one eye on the past but also looking to the future.
My first ever venture into the state ceremonial side of our regiment was for the Ghanaian state visit. Having to escort Her Majesty the Queen and also the President of Ghana was an incredible privilege for me. Also, we had lots of Ghanaians in the crowd so there was lots of drumming, shouting and cheering.
You can't see anything like this anywhere in the world except in the UK.
Household Cavalry!

And here I was, a Ghanaian who joined the British Army who has now become part of that culture, and it's then personified by that parade, which is the highest respect we can pay to any foreign dignitary when Her Majesty receives them and allows them to travel in the carriage with her to Buckingham Palace. And it truly is an amazing day. 

So that respect goes both ways. From the Commonwealth to Britain, and then in return from Britain to the Commonwealth. Those of us from Commonwealth countries generally tend to idolize a British way of life and British culture. So it's placed on a pedestal. So everything, from bowler hats and umbrellas, having afternoon tea, going to church on Sundays, is held in high regard.
Even though it's still the last bastion of standards, when you start working and living in Britain from day to day, you realize that things aren't as rigid as they appear. Life is slightly more casual than you'd expect to see it. We can't always be on show. At the end of the day, we're still normal people. A good example would be in the way that the public can mock members of Parliament or even the Royal Family. It's open season for making whatever comments you wish to make about people. And it says to people that we're comfortable in the way we live, and that is the basis of a democracy.
Simply looking around, this regiment appears to be very traditional and very British, projecting that one image. But really, you simply have to look around and you realize that it is a synthesis of different cultures. The regiment really can be compared to a modern-day United Nations. And here we have a Swedish officer, we have an Indian officer, we have myself from Ghana, we have an officer of French and Arab descent and a Zimbabwean, and officers from so many different backgrounds all mixed together as one.
From where I sit and the things I've seen in the United Kingdom, cultures really do mix and intermingle. And if I'm not a good example of that, I really don't know what is.

Palestinian singer on freedom of speech

In another installment of the series See Britain through my Eyes, where British people and foreigners talk about their experience of living in the UK, British born Palestinian singer Shadia Mansour talks about what being able to choose her own path means, and the support and help she's received in the UK.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below about it.



1 How did Shadia start to sing?
2 Where did Shadia go to college?
3 Where does Shadia's open-mindness come from?
4 How did Shadia start rapping in Arabic?
5 How did Shadia feel when she performed her songs live in Palestine?
6 What has going to Palestine  made her appreciate?
7 What have British society and Britain as a whole meant for her?

To check your answers, you can read the transcript below.

Very old. I grew up listening to these songs, you know, my family would play these songs for me when I was a little girl, and make me sing them.
I love hearing Arabic melodies on Western music.  And now, I can walk around comfortably as an Arab in Britain because people can celebrate the culture with me.  For me it’s great that it’s embedded here in Britain. Taking it back to a world when I was younger, going to school, growing up and going to college, when I was living in Britain I used to feel very British and now I feel very Palestinian.
But, in terms of how I think, I think the open-mindedness has definitely come from Britain. It definitely comes from growing up here, and that's, I think, that's how British I feel.
I've been given the privilege of knowing what freedom feels like, being here.  I have the option of choosing what path I want to go down and that's part of the journey.  And I've taken that with me.  Well, actually no, it's taken me, you know, with it through music.
When I started rapping in Arabic, it started off as a hobby.  I wasn't uncomfortable with singing, like rapping in English or singing in English, but I felt like I really had to, I had to be honest and real with myself and original.  I wanted to claim a voice. I wanted to claim an identity in terms of being a Palestinian and the diaspora.
When I went and actually performed the songs live in Palestine, in front of a live audience, it was an amazing experience, you know, going there and seeing the people that listen to my music face to face, and trying to keep their identity and maintain it. It's like taking the songs home.
Actually, going to Palestine really made me appreciate, you know, the privileges we have here.  You actually have a chance here to have your voice heard.
I value the freedom of speech in Britain and I've started to appreciate that, whereas before I didn't actually notice it, I didn't realize it.  So I do feel like that's been kind of a backbone for me.  I'd have to say definitely that British society and Britain as a whole has been kind of like a backbone.  It's shaped my ability to be able to do what I do with no restrictions.

UK design industry

In this new installment from the Foreign Office short film series, See Britain through my eyes, French designer Sebastien Noel and German designers Conny Freyer and Eva Rucki discuss the characteristics of the UK design industry.

This is not an easy clip to understand, because some of the speakers have a heavy foreign accent, so the film is just suitable for strong intermediate students.

Self-study activity:
Watch the film and say whether the statements below are true or false.

1 Sebastian did a postgradute course in Italy.
2 Conny set up a studio while still at college.
3 English clients prefer experienced artists.
4 The sculpture they created for British Airways is 5x2x1
5 This sculpture is inspired in the displays airports used to have to give information.
6 Sebastian, Conny and Eva have designed UK's Expo pavilion in Shanghai.
7 They designed a plant that they called 'The Self -Killing Plant'.
8 Britain has a long tradition for innovation, and new things, and taking risks.



You can read the transcript here.
My name is Sebastien Noel. I'm one of the three founding directors of Troika together with Conny Freyer and Eva Rucki.
Troika is an art and design studio based in London.
I'm from France. The two other are from Germany.
And this is "See Britain Through Troika's Eyes".
I was originally working in Italy and very soon I felt the need to go and do a postgraduate in design. And I guess I chose to come in here in England because you have the Royal College of Art, which was one of the best schools in Europe.
Already during college time we had worked together quite a lot. So, I decided to set up a studio a year after leaving the college.
I think in general, clients in the UK are quite happy to take well comparably quite large risks like commissioning people coming out of their degree.
For British Airways we created a five - meter long sculpture, two - meter wide, one meter tall that is suspended in the first class interior in Terminal Five, Heathrow. It is covered with 5,000 little mirrors like that, that can flip from one side to the other so we can animate the whole skin of the sculpture. This is what was used in old train stations and airports to display information and go. We're kind of re - exploring an older technology and see what kind of identity it could have over a more conventional technique.
We use play, humor, provocation, they're all sort of essential elements to our work.
We were commissioned to create the exhibition content for the UK Expo Pavilion in Shanghai. Thomas Heatherwick designed the pavilion, we designed three large-scale installations that form part of the exhibition. So, the last installation describes how plants can help us to live a more sustainable life in cities. So, we designed a plant that we then called 'The Self - Eating Plant' that constantly regenerates itself but destroys itself, eats itself and creates oil. And those fictional, futuristic plants are telling specific stories that were inspired by current UK research.
I think Britain has a long history in approaching the world in a very open way and has traveled a lot in the last hundreds of years bringing back certain influences from other countries into Britain and this has continued now. So, I think that there is almost a naturally grown attitude towards new things to have a culture of innovation and testing and going out and searching for new things in Britain. So, anything that really has to do with exploration and innovation, that culture is really developed here and that has, that needs an openness towards risk – taking and a willingness to explore new grounds.
And I think you can really find that here. A client who is willing to take the risk and an audience who enables you to do risky projects.
People from other countries come and search for that and seek that. This is also the experience we have now, working internationally. People come and give us like carte blanche to do something, which is great.


Key:
1 F (in England, he just started working in Italy)
2 F (a year after he finished college)
3 F (doesn't really say, but Eva says English customers take risks with recent graduates)
4 T (five meter long, two meters wide and one metre tall)
5 T
6 F (they have just designed the three large-scale installations that form part of the exhibition)
7 F ('The Self - Eating Plant' )
8 T

Jonathan Mills

See Britain through my eyes is a Foreign Office series of video clips where English people and foreigners talk about the UK and about what they have found there -a place to study, a place to work or a place of refuge. They speak about their experiences of living in the UK and about their feelings towards their home or adoptive country.

In this new installment, Jonathan Mills talks about his experiences while directing the Edinburgh International Festival.

Self-study activity:
Watch the five-minute clip and answer the questions below.

1 What nationality is Jonathan Mills?
2 When did he come to the UK?
3 When did the Edinburgh Festival start?
4 Why was Edinburgh the only possible location for the Festival?
5 What's the main reason why the Festival was so successful?
6 Why does Jonathan mention the Olympic Games and the World Cup?
7 How many visitors does Edinburgh recieve during the Festival?
8 What five adjectives does Jonathan use to describe British society at the end of the clip?



You can check your answers while reading the transcript here.
I'm an Australian and I'm an artist. I'm a composer. I've lived in the UK for the last four years. I came here to do a job. I'm the Director of the Edinburgh International Festival. 
There seems to be a common perception, let's not beat around the bush, that the UK is up itself. I'm here to tell you that nothing could be further from the truth. This is an incredibly diverse, incredibly welcoming meritocracy. 
Edinburgh in August is, I think, a great example of what the UK can do and do very well: let its hair down.  The Edinburgh Festival was started to offer people hope at a time that had been seen to be so hopeless after the Second World War. 
In 1947, the Edinburgh Festival started when the landscape in Europe was horrific.  There was no town, no part of Europe that had been unscathed by the bombing. It couldn't be held in Coventry, it couldn't be held in Manchester, it couldn't be held in Birmingham or London because the places were bombed to blazes. 
Edinburgh stages Scotland's first international music and drama festival. I think one of the reasons it was so successful was that not only did people open their minds and receive really interesting culture from places they'd hardly ever heard of, let alone been to. 2,000 artists taking part in a total of 174 performances.  But most important of all, they opened their hearts. And there was the most extraordinary sense that we should share what we have. We should share our food, we should share our shelter. But perhaps most important of all, we should share our culture. 
The Edinburgh International Festival is an extraordinary phenomenon by any statistical comparison. Only two other events that are held in the world sell more tickets than we do the Olympic Games and the World Cup. We sell 2.8 million tickets to these festivals in August. 875,000 people come to a city that has a population of about 450,000. Edinburgh more than trebles in size and there is not a square inch of this city that is not teeming with people doing the craziest things. 
The place literally erupts with all kinds of energy and all kinds of artistic endeavors. The enthusiasm of audiences is palpable. There's a great appetite for culture and there's a great appetite for cultures that are not just European. And I think that's one of the really important things to recognize about the UK. 
This is a multicultural society of enormous success. It comes from the ground up. It's because people actually want to have this happen. It's because individual citizens who are free in a very robust democracy have said, "This is important to us. We want to celebrate together. We want a great cultural life." And you can see that all over the UK in spades. The number of orchestras and theater companies, ballet companies, they're literally coming out your ears. And I think they make it the very special place that it is today, diverse, welcoming, open, open-spirited, and curious.
 

Sir Steve Redgrave

With the Olympics just round the corner, retired English rower Steve Redgrave tells us about the UK's passion for sport and his personal involvement in the 2012 Games in this Foreign Office film which is a part of the series See Britain through my eyes.

This is extensive listening, upwards of six minutes and even strong intermediate students may find it difficult to understand in detail what Steve Redgrave says. That's the reason why the task students are given is quite general.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and number the topics below in the order they are mentioned by Steve Redgrave.



The hard training sessions
Britain changing their mentality
The first race
Confidence in the success of the games
How it all started
His ancestors
Steve being asked to help out in the Olympic bid
The British tradition of inventing sports

You can read the transcript here.
The river has always been part of our society here.
My father and my father's father, my grandfather, had all been brought up in the area.
But nobody got on the river before I did.
Certainly on a morning like this, it's sort of so idyllic. It's just fantastic.
This is how I started sort of 30 years ago.
I just loved it.
It was sort of escapism in some ways.
It's just magical.
That's nice rhythm, that's nice control.
I went to a school just on the other side of Marlow.
And the Head of the English Department, a guy called Francis Smith, he was actually captain of Marlow Rowing Club.
And he just asked a few individuals if they would like to give rowing a go.
And I thought, "Well, getting out of school and going along the river during school time, that seems pretty sensible."
And after a couple of months Francis said, "Well, would you like to go and do a race?"
And I thought, "Oh a race! That sounds, that's pretty fun."
And we went down to Bristol and did a race down there, not really expecting anything, and we ended up winning it.
I suppose that sort of shaped my career in some ways, from those first few months and that first race.
Success breeds success.
Your dreams start getting built by other people's views.
And in some ways that was a great motivating factor as being a youngster that time.
But it also had its downfalls as well because you have your sort of belief that, "Oh, one day I am gonna be World Champion."
"I wonder which year that is gonna be."
And the fact is that you have to make it happen.
So, we would be training three, sometimes four training sessions in a day.
That's 20 kilometers a training session.
And that's 49 weeks a year.
So, when you're plowing up and down the river your feeling is, "This is horrible."
I don't wanna be doing this.
But I've gotta do this for the race that we're going.

United States, Slovenia, Great Britain.
Most of the sports that are around have been started by Brits.
We start it off then everybody picks it up, and then does it better than we do.
I think in some ways British people have had a problem over a long period of time and I'm thinking, "Oh no, we're British we've got to do it as very much amateurs!" and it was about having a good fight.
But it wasn't about winning.
But I think over the last few decades, that has slowly changed.
It's not a bad thing to be British and to be a winner.
That's a good thing.
We welcome Mr. Juan Antonio Samaranch who is presenting Mr. Steve Redgrave, OBE with a gold Olympic pin to acknowledge his fifth Gold Medal, a record.
I think we've become very happy within our own skins because it's not embarrassing to go out and win races or even to say that you're the best in the field in this particular area.
And I think we've been able to accept that as a nation in some ways.
And certainly moving towards 2012 and having the greatest sporting event coming to our country, there is an expectation that we don't just want to put on a fantastic Games.
But we want our athletes to do well as well and to win some gold medals.
I was asked to be helping out on the bid process.
And I didn't even have to give it a thought.
It was something of being able to hand something down to the next generation.
That's the Aquatic over there.
When the bid was suggested in the UK, that we were going to bid for the games there were people saying, "No, we're never gonna get it."
In less than three years they'll be opening doors, people will be sitting in these seats, watching the athletes doing their bit down there.
I just find that incredible in some ways, of so many people who put so much effort into it.
But it's gonna happen, it's gonna succeed and it's gonna be really very, very special to be here.
I'd really love to be able to compete in these games.
As a 50 - year - old, I think I'd be probably struggling a little bit but it'll certainly be a very proud day from those humble beginnings of getting out in a boat to seeing the opening ceremony, seeing the flame lit.
I'm gonna be one proud British guy.
There's no doubt about that.

Key:
1 His ancestors
2 How it all started
3 The first race
4 The hard training sessions
5 The British tradition of inventing sports
6 Britain changing their mentality
7 Steve being asked to help out in the Olympic bid
8 Confidence in the success of the games

Zeinab Badawi on freedom of expression

This is Zeinab Badawi's profile as shown on the Foreign and Commonwelth Office website:

Zeinab Badawi is one of the most senior news anchors on the BBC World News Channel and BBC4 TV. Born in Sudan, she moved to the UK aged two and has been been involved in British broadcast news for two decades working on an extensive range of programmes.
In her short ‘See Britain’ film Zeinab says that freedom of expression is something we often take for granted in the UK. She celebrates the liberties we enjoy in the UK and views them as real cornerstones of democracy. Find out more by watching the film below.

Self-study activity:
Watch Zeinab discussing freedom of expression and what it means for her to live in the UK and how her adopted country has given full meaning to her life.

Answer the questions below to test your understanding of the ideas Zeinab puts forward.



1 Why is 1956 significant?
2 Which two jobs did Zeinab's father do?
3 Why doesn't Zeinab take liberty for granted?
4 What's the name of Zeinab's programme with the BBC?
5 Why is it odd to distinguish between British news and international news?
6 How much does the British government control the BBC?

You can check the answers by reading the transcript here.

Hi, I'm Zeinab Badawi.  I'm a television presenter and this is "See Britain Through My Eyes".  I was born in Sudan at the time when the British were in power there.  But I moved with my family to London when I was 2 years old.  Sudan got its independence in 1956. 
My father had been involved in pre - independence politics and he ceased to be in politics and he moved into journalism.  But by about '62 - '63 it was quite difficult for my father to stay in the country.  There'd been a military dictatorship a few years earlier.  So, he came ahead of the family and in fact he got a job with the BBC Arabic Service at Bush House. 
I think the key thing that we take for granted here in Britain is freedom of speech, freedom of expression.
Having reported and worked in many countries abroad, I have seen and witnessed firsthand how there is a much tighter state control of the media.  People aren't often given a true or balanced or accurate picture of what's actually going on.  As we speak, there are people languishing in jail because they dared to speak out.  I just stand on the steps there and I do a trail.  
Obviously, democracy here is an old robust one. You can vote a government in, you can vote a government out. And so, I suppose my background means that I don't take this liberty for granted and I believe it is a real cornerstone of democracy. 
Are we ready?
Okay.
How soon will debt - ridden Greece get the financial rescue package it's demanding? 
My news program "World News Today", it's an evening program that goes out in Britain on BBC 4 Television at 7 p.m. and it goes out on our international channel BBC World News.  We reach something like 250 million households.  
The outright winner in Sudan's landmark elections, the opposition say, is fraudulent.
I'll do it again actually.
Too long; it's gonna be too long. 
We really try and find stories which affect the global citizen. How will he, the country and the international community, respond? 
That's World News Today with me Zeinab Badawi. 
I should have written it and then I would have done it to time. So sorry, I was doing it a bit on the hoof. 
I know it's cliche to say but it's true that globalization means everybody's lives are very interlinked. We saw that with the financial crisis. 
Aaron, could I just borrow you for a sec?
I wanted to ask you about the Greece thing 'cause I'm gonna be leading with that, so what have you done on it? Foot down at the moment.
But we've just heard from Angela Merkel who says there is no way that the Eurozone won't come to some type of agreement. 
I mean in the old days, we used to say "foreign news" and "domestic news". And now actually, it sounds a bit odd if we say "foreign news" and "British news" because the two live off each other. They're almost one and the same. 
Tools of the trade. Transparency, accountability of government actions is absolutely crucial and frankly, that's the role of the media. You know, shining a harsh spotlight on truth and sunlight after all is a very strong antiseptic, isn't it? 
Alright Attiya, I'm ready to rehearse when you are.
This is BBC World News Today with me, Zeinab Badawi.
Europe bickers over the Greek bailout.
A narrow escape for the British Ambassador in Yemen: he survives a suicide attack on his convoy.  The government blames Al-Qaeda. 
I'm not sure if people abroad really understand what the BBC is about because I think the fact that the BBC is paid for by the British taxpayer, people believe that therefore the British government has actually an editorial input into what the BBC actually does.  And I think they find it quite hard to understand that the BBC's constitution means that we absolutely, absolutely cherish and protect and fight for our independence. So, we don't even have an arm's-length relationship with the government. We just don't deal with the government at all. And you can see that you have the authentic pronunciation of "Al-Qaeda" because of course, my family speak Arabic. "Qaeda", it's not easy to say it even in Arabic. People like Mikhail Gorbachev say, "Oh I heard about what was going on in my own country through the BBC" and we know that the Dalai Lama listens to the World Service Radio. 
So, it really is a vital, vital tool for the dissemination of information in all sorts of ways. All these things have really served to underscore that freedom of speech that we have in this country. And I suppose the BBC best epitomizes that tradition. This is BBC World News Today with me, Zeinab Badawi. I'm very proud to be an employee of the BBC.

British fashion knows no bounds

This is another installment of the series See Britain through my Eyes, where a number of foreigners who have settled into the UK express their views on their adopted country with a view to the 2012 Olympics in London. Today, Reem Alasadi talks about British fashion.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and say whether the statements below are true or false.



1 Reem gets a lot of ideas and inspiration from street markets.
2 Reem loves the multiculturalism of British society.
3 Playing with national symbols like the Queen or the Union Jack can get you into serious danger.
4 Reem recycles a lot of stuff for his designs.
5 Reem's next fashion show will be held in Japan's embassy in London.
6 Reem still feels he doesn't belong in Britain.

You can read the transcript here.
I'm Reem Alasadi. I'm a fashion designer born in Iraq. I've made Britain my home and this is 'See Britain Through My Eyes.'
Portobello market, the best place in the world.  I've been coming here for years looking for things that we could probably remake, recycle.
When I hit a flea market, it's like a child in a sweetie shop. My eyes pop open even bigger. Can I pick up some things? The clothes here tell a huge story about Britain. Everything is a fabric of the nation, you know, liberty print, the little flowers.
These are obviously not Indian clothes, but it's, she's adapted them and made them there and brought them back here. And then right next door you've got Aquascutum and you can't get more English than Aquascutum. It's this kind of multicultural society that we live in which is absolutely beautiful.
In Britain here, there are many symbols like, you know, the face of the Queen on the coins, the Union Jacks, all these things that you feel like you can own, you can play with but you don't feel like anybody is going to put you in prison for them.
So after we leave Portobello, we come back here in Maidstone in Kent. It's my little studio.
Hi, Mimi.
Hello Reem, how are you?
Ruth, I've got lots of stuff from Portobello.
These sort of scarves here, you know, we'll make knitwear or we'll use it for a sleeve like this which is really cool. Actually look at this acetate. If you look at these stains they look like stains but to me, you know, it could look like a really beautiful print.
Most people would look at that and think what a load of crap but we can reuse it, we'll recycle it and make something really beautiful out of it.
British fashion has to be number one. You know, everybody in the whole world looks at British designers and what they're doing. The boundaries are there to be broken and they accept it when you break the boundaries.
Look at me, an Iraqi living in Britain, we've broken all the rules and we show once a year, instead of twice a year. We don't do sketches, we don't do drawings, we drape everything and we've been supported all the way.
Our next show is called 'God Save the Queen' which will be held in the British Embassy in Tokyo inspired by punks. I'm not dissing the Queen, I'm absolute royalist, I love the royal family but I'm a creative person.
So, you know, I have to be free enough to express myself in however and with whatever I want to do. I probably wouldn't have done this anywhere else but this country. Obviously I'm still an Arab but I'm a British Arab. I travel around the world and I can't wait to come back home. I love everything Britain stands for, you know, I love the traditional farmhouse, I love the traditional English garden, and I like the horses in the field.  Yet I like to mix it with, you know, my heritage.
You know, no matter where you go in the world you always think there is always a restriction behind what you might have to say or how you look or, you know, what you do.  And in this country you just know you are free.

Key:
1T 2T 3F 4T 5F 6F

The British Do Things Differently

In another video from the Foreign Office to commemorate the 2012 Olympics in London, Camila Batmanghelidjh tells us her incredible story as an immigrant in Britain.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and say what the following refer to:
14,000
100
400
40
6,000
14,000
12
9
6
Saatchi Gallery
eccentrics



You can self-correct the activity by reading the transcript here.
My name is Camila Batmanghelidjh. I'm a psychotherapist and the founder of Kids Company, a charity supporting 14,000 vulnerable children, and this is See Britain through my eyes. 
When we first started, we were a handful of people in some railway arches. It was 100 adolescent boys from different gangs and I used to just stand here, and kinda take a deep breath, and say, "Welcome, please don't spit." And they used to get their knives out, rip the furniture, set the cushions alight, stick their chewing gums in places. 
But as time went on, I got to know them and they started coming and talking to me, and it's just in this little railway arch, I heard 400 of the most horrific stories of what had happened to these children. So, we quietly, gently, and eccentrically grew to a big organization. 
Now, we've got a five story building as our head office. We're on 40 different sites, 6,000 volunteers, 14,000 children who are being helped, a budget of 12 million and this is all thanks to the British public because every brick of Kids Company was built on the compassion of the British public. 
What we do at Kids Company is that we function like a substitute parent in the lives of these children. Some of the children are so disturbed and traumatized that we need to untangle the trauma before they can go on to flourish. 
When I was nine years old in Iran, I told my parents that I wanted to start an orphanage, but then the revolution happened in Iran, and I ended up in England.  I had to get political asylum. Even though I had significant damage to my brain because of being born very premature, I walked out of Warwick with a first class degree, which then opened all the other doors. So now, I have six secretaries and I don't care if I can't spell. 
At the exhibition we have at the Saatchi Gallery, each child did their bedroom in a shoebox. This is a young girl and she's showing her father's fist. If you look here, there's a ring that says "Dad". But actually, what she was faced with when she saw that ring is him punching her. So, you can see her sitting there with her cat and she was always terrified of his violence. And we had to put her in a hotel whilst we found her somewhere to live and completely stabilized her. 
Here, you have evidence of child abuse and neglect being exhibited in one of the most important galleries of the world, the Saatchi Gallery. 
It's an amazing testament of the commitment of people high up in British society to the welfare of children. The British are a complex race, full of contradiction. They behave completely as if they're obeying every convention there is and yet they are the nation that champions eccentrics. I don't look very normal, I don't dress very normal, I don't think too normal, and yet in this country I've been allowed to flourish. And it's precisely the appreciation, the shy and reserved British have for those who dare to do things differently, that makes this country so exciting to live in.

Equality in the UK

Self-study activity:
Watch another video from the series See Britain through my eyes, this time featuring Andre Camara, a Brazilian photojournalist, who talks about the British sense of justice.



1 How long has he been in London?
2 What four professions does Andre mention when he touches on the British sense of equality?
3 What does Andre say about escalators in Britain?
4 Who built the Albert Memorial? Why?
5 What does the monument represent?
6 What symbolism does the monument have now?


You can read the transcript here.
For the past 20 years in London, I've seen Britain through my eyes as a photojournalist. 
Just about everything that happened: the 7/7 bombings, the IRA bombing in the city kind of showed me a lot of the resilience, of the stoicism, of how the British react in these adversities. And it taught me a lot. 
Another thing I love about the British society is that it treats everybody with equality.  You know, we are all human beings, we are equal. Here, I spent hours, days, weeks, months of my life outside here, covering some of the biggest justice stories this country has ever had. 
Justice is the root of this equality. It's so strong in this culture and society where the bus driver is as important, as equal as a chief executive of a big company; where the dustman is as equal as a doctor. 
In this culture, it doesn't matter which culture you are from or where you were born; everyone is equal under the law.  There's a respect, there's a politeness in this country that I've never seen anywhere else in the world. I love it. I've completely swallowed it in my life.  So, one of the things that really amazed me when I first got here is how people who stand and calmly relax as they go down the escalator or up. They stay on the right.  And people who want to move or are in a hurry go on the left. And it works. 
It's like this British respect for each other; respect for the rules. I don't see this working anywhere else in the world. My work took me all over the planet. And every time I come back to London, I feel we are in the epicenter of this new multicultural world that we live in nowadays. 
The Albert Memorial was made by Queen Victoria to celebrate her beloved dead husband Prince Albert. And it was at the height of the empire and it celebrated colonialism; it celebrated the whole world in one power. 
So, you have the four continents; each continent represented in each corner and so as the whole world represented in one monument being the power of the empire. And now, as a kind of reversal of that, it seems to me now the symbol of London's multiculturalism as in the whole world here, in one city.

Key:
1 twenty years 2 bus driver, chief executive, dustman doctor 3 Everybody is relaxed in them. Those who are just standing, stay on the right; those who are in a hurry, go on the left.4 Queen Victoria, to celebrate her beloved dead husband 5 each continent is represented in one corner, and the whole world is represented in one monument, which is the power of the (British) empire 6 London's multiculturalism

London a hub city for culture

In this Foreign Office 'See Britain Through my Eyes' film, playwright, novelist and social commentator Bonnie Greer talks about uncovering her true heritage at the British Museum.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video clip and answer the questions below.



1 How long has she lived in Britain?
2 How many objects are there in the British Museum?
3 Why does Bonnie refer to the British Museum as the Tower of Babel?
4 What can the collection in the middle of the museum (the hub) teach us?
5 Where and when was the Ashanti drum discovered?
6 What was Bonnie told at school in the 60s?
7 What did Bonnie's dad do?

You can self-correct the activity by reading the transcript here.
Hi, I'm Bonnie Greer. I'm a playwright, novelist, commentator and I was born on the south side of Chicago. I've lived here since 1986 and I'm Deputy Chair of the British Museum. This is See Britain Through My Eyes. 
The British Museum is the ultimate Enlightenment institution. We hold a collection of seven million - plus objects and we hold them for all of the world, free to all of the world. So you walk through this dark aperture, this kind of classical Greek temple, the 18th century idea of the Enlightenment.  It's dark and tiny. And suddenly the museum opens up, full of light, full of movement where you see people of all colors and nations. This is like a Tower of Babel in a sense.  There's so many languages represented here. 
This museum embodies the notion that we better learn about our own culture in relation to other cultures. And so the colonial era actually turned London into what it still is today: a hub city. So that the notion of globalization, in its good sense, actually you could say began at this place where all the peoples of the world have left behind their story. And so it is right that this collection in this museum sits in the middle of that hub. These objects actually help us to understand how to live together when they are together. 
So many objects speak to me in this museum. But the one that really talks to me particularly is the Ashanti drum.
It was discovered in Virginia in the middle of the 18th Century and is believed to have been brought there by a captain on a slaver ship. It looks like a tiny little thing here amidst all the other wonderful objects and you know, you may think, "Well, what's the big deal about this?" I was a young school girl in the beginning of the 60s. And we were told, as black kids, that we had no links to anything and Africa was a savage, crazy, brutal, inhuman place. This drum puts the lie to this idea that there was no such thing as culture in Africa. And the beauty of it, it is here in the British Museum that I'm able to begin to weave that story together for myself. 
My dad, he was a factory worker. He would buy the Encyclopedia Britannica door-to-door. And of course, the Encyclopedia Britannica had the drawings of the British Museum in it. And so, I became acquainted with the Museum when I was very, very young. So now, to be a part of an institution that my dad read about and talked about to us which was started by an heiress who got a fortune through slavery. And now, at this point where I am here, an immigrant, a foreigner, Deputy Chair of the British Museum. I think it could only happen here.
 

Science and innovation in the UK

Science and innovation in the UK, featuring Astrophysicist Giovanna Tinetti, is another video in the series Britain through my eyes.

The Britain through my eyes project consists of a series of videos where immigrants to the UK express their views on the country in preparation for London 2012.

Self-study activity:
Unfortunately, Giovanna's English is difficult to understand, but the task here is quite general. Say whether the statements below are true or false.



1 Giovanna got her degree in Italy.
2 She has lived in three continents.
3 London is her favourite city.
4 She's trying to find life in the universe.
5 The UK is really cosmopolitan.
6 The Royal Society is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
7 They have already discovered life in space, bacteria microorganism, but not civilazations.

You can read the transcript here.
My name is Giovanna Tinetti.  I come from Italy and I am an astrophysicist at University College London, and this is "See Britain Through My Eyes". 
I actually did my university studies in Italy and then, I went to the United States and to France. And today, I actually work in London, University College London, and I really love being here and I really hope to stay here for my entire life, actually. 
I seriously think that London is the most beautiful city in the world. I can basically live in the hills of London, but then a few tube stations, I can go to the center.  And then from there, I can start to think about what's happening in space.  I like the fact that I can be totally in my mind in the countryside or in the city, or in space. 
Personally, I work on the idea of trying to find life elsewhere in the universe.  Looking at the light coming from the planets, which are outside our own solar system, if the orbit of the planet at a certain point brings the planet in front of the star, then you can basically measure the composition of the planetary atmosphere. Through that, we can get an insight of what's going on on the planet, if the planet is habitable and potentially inhabited or not. 
What I particularly like of the UK universities is the balance between a competition and a corporation, and this is something that is a little bit in between the American situation or the European one.  The flux that is made by the planet would also be equal to sigma.  Sigma is always the Stefan-Boltzmann constant, of course.
When I arrived in the UK, I was surprised to see how international is this community, and literally people are coming from all over the world.  Not only students, but also the staff. That is actually a very strong message that is very rare internationally.  The fact that you have a culture that is open enough actually, to allow other people to come in from different countries, if they deserve it, to take key jobs.  In the UK, you have a very strong concept of meritocracy. 
One of the aspects of the UK I really like is having a foot in the past and a foot in the future. This is one of the events of the Royal Society to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the Royal Society.  What I think is fantastic is the idea that such a great institution that goes past centuries is not just a fossil.  It's still an institution and it's inspiring us to do great science today. I was awarded a university research fellowship by the Royal Society.  
Of course, if I come here and I look at all these beautiful portraits of scientists like Newton, Boyle, then I feel a lot of pressure.  You have all the past talking to you to sort of support you and encourage you to do a brighter future. 
Are there any planets with other Royal Society looking back at us and seeing us as alien? I really think that simple life, in terms of bacteria microorganisms, is probably very common out there.  Maybe civilization, it's something a little bit more difficult to form.  We shall see what this theorem will tell us.

Key:
1T 2F 3T 4T 5T 6F 7F

Love for Music

Self-study activity:
Watch this four-minute video featuring Alina Ibragimova, a young Russian-born violin player, who has taken part in the series Britain through my eyes, where a number of immigrants to the UK talk about their feelings towards their adopted country.

What do the following figures refer to?
four or five
six
three or four
eleven
eight and ten
fourteen

What did Alina's father do?
What does Alina like about British schools?
How does she feel in Britain as a violin player?



You can self-correct yourself by reading the transcript here.
This is Britain through my eyes.
For me, classical music, it's life. It's not work.
Today, I think England is one of the strongest classical music places.
You look at Time Out magazine...
...and you have, I don't know, four or five events that you really want to go to.
It's incredible, the amount of different directions you can go.
The first memory, I think I was six and I played in the Bolshoi Theatre, a big hall with an orchestra.
And I played, I think, every year for three or four years.
I wasn't nervous, particularly.
It was, of course at the age of six, you don't realize that the Bolshoi Theatre is important.
So, it was easy. It was fine.
My father got an invitation to play in the London Symphony Orchestra.
So, we all decided to move to England, which of course was a big step for everyone, I think.
My mother or me, we didn't even see the house we were going to live in at that time. We just turned up.
So, I went to a music school, the Yehudi Menhuin School.
And I auditioned and got in at the age of 11...
And of course, as every other child, I loved to perform but not to practice.
And the Menhuin School gave me the ground to decide which way I wanted to go.
It's funny. It seems so much smaller.
Okay, after you. Here we go.
It's incredible to be here again.
Sounds nice!
It was a very intense time here.
You have to do your practice,...
...you have to do chamber music, orchestra, music lessons, academic lessons.
It's a lot.
This is where my old violin lessons were.
I was here mostly between eight and ten every day so, what's that? 14 hours.
It was tough but I can't think of a better place I could have gone to.
I studied with Natasha Boyarsky who is a renowned violin teacher.
She's wonderful.
I mean, she's strict; she makes you very disciplined...
...but you very much feel it's practicing because I want to make it better, you know;...
...not because I've been told to; because I have to do this amount of time every day.
What I think is wonderful in this country is that in every school you get at least a very basic knowledge of music.
So, most children will have played an instrument at some point.
Everybody knows what it's like...
...and that's, I think, very impressive and it doesn't happen also in many places and it's great to see that.
I'm sure it has a lot to do with the fact that there are so many people from so many different cultures here...
...because I don't feel this conservative thing that I feel in other places with listening to something new.
What's incredible in this country is whatever you do, you know that it will be welcomed and respected.
And it gives you that kind of freedom on stage that you wouldn't otherwise have.
That's why when I come and play, I feel like I'm home;...
...I feel like I can explore in any direction I want and experiment.
And that's a great feeling and that's very special.