Local government services

Most of the numerous services that a modern government provides are run at local level in Britain. These include public hygiene and environment health inspection, the collecting of rubbish from outside people's houses (the people who do this are euphemistically known as 'dustmen'). and the cleaning and tidying of all public places (which is done by 'street sweepers'). They also include the provision of public swimming pools, which charge admission fees, and public parks, which do not. The latter are mostly just green grassy spaces, but they often contain children's playgrounds and playing fields for sports such as football and cricket which can be reserved in advance on payment.

Public libraries are another well-known service. Anybody can go into one of these to consult the books, newspapers and magazines there free of charge. If you want to borrow books and take them out of the library, you have to have a library card or ticket (these are available to people living in the area). Sometimes CDs and video cassettes are also available for hire. The popularity of libraries in Britain is indicated by the fact that, in a country without identity cards, a person's library card is the most common means of identification for someone who does not have a driving licence.

Counties are the oldest divisions of the country in England and Wales. Most of them existed before the Norman conquest. They are still used today for local government purposes, although a few have been 'invented' this century (e.g. Humberside) and others have no function in government but are still used for other purposes. One of these is Middlesex, which covers the western part of Greater London (letters are still addressed 'Middx') and which is the name of a top-class cricket team. Many countries have 'shire' in their name (e.g. Hertfordshire, Hampshire, Leicestershire). 'Shires' is what the counties were originally called.

Boroughs were originally towns that had grown large and important enough to be given their own government, free of control by the country. These days, the name is used for local government purposes only in London, but many towns still proudly describe themselves as Royal Boroughs.

Parishes were originally villages centred on a local church. They became a unit of local government in the nineteenth century. Today they are the smallest unit of local government in England.

The name 'parish' is still used in the organization of the main Christian churches in England.