Perfect Your English Language While Exploring UK Current Events
What happens when governments and big businesses overlook the obvious? In the UK, millions of homes are built on flood-prone land, storms are wreaking havoc, and frustrated farmers are taking to the streets! 🌧️🚜 How do these stories connect to our daily lives—and our English learning?
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This podcast brings you up-to-date with the latest UK news and also teaches practical English vocabulary and phrases you'll use in everyday conversations. From understanding weather terms to exploring debates on politics and economics, you'll learn English in a meaningful context. Let’s get started!
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More About This Lesson
Did you know that the UK faced severe floods last week, leaving many homes and businesses in ruins? Or that the new government’s recent policies have sparked protests, with millions calling for change? Whether it's storms causing chaos or debates about electric cars and taxes, there’s always something interesting happening in the UK. Let’s explore these news stories together and unpack the events shaping British life.
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Learning about UK news is a fantastic way to grow your English skills. These topics introduce vocabulary related to weather, politics, and economics, helping you understand real-world issues while improving your listening and comprehension. You’ll also gain confidence discussing global challenges in English—an essential skill for conversations or exams. Let’s make English learning both practical and interesting:
- You expand vocabulary with useful terms on weather, politics, and economics.
- You hear real UK news, enhancing listening skills and cultural knowledge.
- You learn practical definitions of words like "flood," "petition," and "inheritance."
- You improve pronunciation through listening to a native British speaker.
- You build fluency by understanding how words connect in real conversations.
- You develop critical thinking by hearing opinions on UK government policies.
- You practise recognizing commonly used British phrases and expressions.
- You receive actionable tips for improving spoken English, like finding a partner.
- You benefit from advice on mastering essential vocabulary for speaking fluently.
- You engage with a structured and varied English lesson, keeping your focus sharp.
This lesson will help you understand real UK news while practicing your listening skills. You’ll learn how to speak about important topics like the weather, politics, and economics with confidence.
Don’t miss out on this opportunity to improve your English! Follow and subscribe to our podcast for more lessons like this, and start learning today!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- What are consonant clusters in English, and why are they important for fluency?
Consonant clusters are groups of consonants that appear together in a word, like the "str" in "street" or the "pl" in "play." Understanding and practising these clusters is crucial for fluency because they help you pronounce words correctly and sound more like a native speaker. Focusing on them will make you more confident in your speaking, especially in British English where consonant clusters are common. - How does the pronunciation of consonant clusters affect my English fluency?
When you learn to pronounce consonant clusters correctly, you'll sound more natural and clear. English pronunciation can be tricky, but knowing how to handle these clusters, such as "th" or "pl," will improve your overall pronunciation. As you practice, you'll notice a significant difference in your fluency, especially when speaking British English, which often uses many such clusters in everyday speech. - What are some examples of words with difficult consonant clusters in British English?
British English is full of words with challenging consonant clusters. For example, "Bournemouth," "Knightsbridge," and "Pocklington" all contain difficult clusters. These words can be tricky to pronounce for learners, but with practice, you'll become more familiar with them. Mastering these clusters will make it easier to pronounce similar words and speak more confidently. - How can I improve my pronunciation of double consonants like the "cc" in words like "succeed" or "accept"?
In British English, the pronunciation of double consonants can vary, especially when it involves the "cc" combination. For instance, "succeed" is pronounced with a "ks" sound, while "accept" has a hard "k" sound. By understanding these rules and practising consistently, you'll improve your pronunciation. Knowing these subtleties will help you sound more natural when speaking British English. - How can I use the "Listen & Learn" method to practice English pronunciation?
The "Listen & Learn" method is all about listening to native speakers and mimicking their pronunciation. By listening to words, phrases, and sentences, you develop an ear for how things should sound. This method is incredibly effective for improving fluency, especially when learning the tricky aspects of British English like consonant clusters and pronunciation rules. Listen to real conversations, repeat after them, and you'll notice your speaking skills improve.
Most Unusual Words:
- Floodplain: Land that often floods because it is near a river or other water source.
- Respite: A short break from something difficult or unpleasant.
- Petition: A formal request signed by people to ask for a change or action.
- Exempt: Not required to do or pay something that others must.
- Inheritance: Money or property passed to someone when a family member dies.
- Turmoil: A state of confusion or disorder.
- Dividends: Money paid to shareholders from a company’s profits.
- Meteorological: Related to weather and climate.
- Debate: A formal discussion where people share different views.
- Unemployment: The state of not having a job but wanting to work.
Most Frequently Used Words:
| Word | Count |
|---|---|
| Government | 19 |
| People | 17 |
| There | 15 |
| About | 11 |
| English | 10 |
| These | 8 |
| Course | 8 |
| Money | 8 |
Listen To The Audio Lesson Now
Transcript: The Best Way to Learn English-Real UK News Stories
Slow UK News Explained - great vocabulary on Weather Politics and Economics!
Hi there and welcome to this podcast from Adept English. How about a news update today? We know you like these news podcasts and you get to learn English on useful topics at the same time. Today I'll choose some UK news stories from last week to focus on and of course I'll explain any of the more difficult words. These news stories are specific to the UK so you may not have heard them but I'm sure some of the issues raised are being talked about in your country too. So let's cover some great English language vocabulary today about weather, politics and economics. Very useful.
Hello, I’m Hilary, and you’re listening to Adept English. We will help you to speak English fluently. All you have to do is listen. So start listening now and find out how it works.
Can you understand English well, but not speak English?
Are you stuck at the point of being able to understand English but you're having difficulty speaking English? It's a common problem. Lots of people get stuck in that place. As well as continuing to listen to lots of English, two things you can do about this problem. First of all consider our Most Common 500 Words Course. This will help you practise and really get to know the basic vocabulary in English. It'll make sure you've got all the essential words in your head and if you can understand the 500 most common words automatically with practice it means they become automatic when you speak. You'll automatically be able to use them and you can say a lot with the most common 500 words. A whole course in fact! Why not try our course and find out? And actually this course covers the most common 600 words which is even better! There's an extra section and there isn't another course like this one that you can buy anywhere and I said two things that can help. The second one - find yourself a language partner, someone to practise speaking English with. Someone who's also learning. That will make it easier. You can do this online. So buy our Most Common 500 Words Course and set up lessons online with an English language partner, someone else who's learning English. Just see how much your spoken English will improve with those two measures!
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Floods in the UK - and building houses on flood land!
So let's look at UK news items today. Well there were lots of floods in the UK last week. That's flood, F-L-O-O-D. And a 'flood' is when water, a lot of water, gets in the wrong place. So you can have a flood in your kitchen if your washing machine breaks. But a flood is also what happens when there's heavy rainfall and the rivers get too big, there's too much water. We say of rivers - that's R-I-V-E-R - 'rivers burst their banks'. That means there's too much water in the river and it cannot be contained anymore. So last week Storm Bert brought heavy rain and made conditions really difficult for many people in the UK. In South Wales and some places in England homes were flooded, businesses destroyed. And Storm Conall didn't help following on from Storm Bert. As I speak today the sun is shining and we have a respite, a gap in the wet weather. But there are still 70 flood warnings out for England and Wales including a 'danger to life alert' in two places. So Storm Bert and Storm Conall - these weather systems are named by the Netherlands Met service, K-N-M-I. 'Met' means 'meteorological'- 'about the weather' in other words. And the naming starts from A on the 1st of September each year. So we're only at Burt and Conall and already there are problems. There are calls for the UK government to do more about flooding. Currently 5.7 million homes in the UK are built on 'flood plains' - areas of land that flood naturally. This doesn't seem to have been factored in, thought about in the design of the houses. This seems to me another example of what we call in English 'a lack of joined up thinking'. Why are companies allowed to build houses on land that is known to flood? Seems a bit crazy to me. Clearly large companies who make money out of building these houses are not being stopped from doing so. And it's the people who buy these houses and live in them who suffer. Why isn't the government doing more? There are also some issues around 'flood defences' - the way we stop the floods and the way that waterways are managed. Generally it's not properly done in the UK because our water companies are private businesses and they're largely interested in making money for their shareholders. I'm not sure big dividends, big payouts should be coming from an essential service like water. Anyway, very frustrating this week for people whose homes and businesses have been affected by floods.
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An English teacher reading a newspaper. Hear native British English to improve your listening and speaking skills.
UK Government Unpopularity - Already!
The UK is generally a great country to live in but you'll hear my frustration sometimes when I'm talking about topics in the news. Our governments seem to make silly decisions but I'm sure that in your country you don't always agree with decisions your government makes either. The new Labour government in the UK has had a difficult start and is already unpopular even though Kier Starmer only became our Prime Minister on the 5th July 2024. People object to, disagree with many of the actions, many of the measures which the Labour government has taken so far. And now there is a petition with nearly three million names on it to hold another general election. A 'petition', P-E-T-I-T-I-O-N, that's where you collect people's names. You get them to 'sign' their name S-I-G-N. And a petition is asking for something different. In the UK if you can get a hundred thousand names on a petition, it triggers a debate in Parliament. Well this petition has nearly three million names as it stands. So why are the Labour government so unpopular?
Old and cold in the winter?
Well their first move was to take away the winter fuel payment for many pensioners. Vocabulary here - a pensioner P-E-N-S-I-O-N-E-R, that's someone who lives on a pension. Generally an old person who is retired and we're probably meaning here people who live on the state pension, the government pension. So these people don't have a lot of money but they were helped by the winter fuel payment. It's expensive to heat our homes at the moment, electricity costs a lot so does gas. So the winter fuel payment was helpful for many pensioners. So now it's been stopped for all but the poorest of pensioners. This happened in the budget at the end of October, B-U-D-G-E-T and that's when the government announces its financial plan.
Stressed farmers in the news
Also in that budget the government announced that they were going to tax inheritance for farmers. The word 'inheritance', I-N-H-E-R-I-T-A-N-C-E, that's when your property passes from father to son, when the father dies or from mother to son or mother to daughter, father to daughter. That's all 'inheritance'. And we have what we call 'inheritance tax' in the UK. That's when they take part of what you own when you die before it passes to your children. Previously farmers were exempt E-X-E-M-P-T. That meant they didn't have to pay inheritance tax. Well now they do. The problem is farmers don't make very much money and this was brilliantly illustrated by Jeremy Clarkson series "Clarkson's Farm". It seems almost impossible to make money out of farming in the UK and yet shouldn't we be worried about our food security? So farmers are now going to be heavily taxed each time their land passes to the next generation. Farmers were out on the streets of London last week. Jeremy Clarkson was there of course too. He is a farmer but actually he's very wealthy and is making a great deal of money from his TV series about his farm. Not quite 'in the same boat as' many of the other farmers then.
The UK job market takes a hit - will this mean unemployment for many?
Another measure, another action which has made the new Labour government very unpopular - they increased National Insurance that employers pay. Again some vocabulary, National Insurance is just another form of tax on your income, on what you earn. It just has a different name as though you're perhaps not going to realise it's tax because it's called something different! But anyway we all pay National Insurance and you have to have a National Insurance Number to work in the UK. And 'employers' - they're businesses that employ people to work for them. So 'employers' are the businesses and 'employees' are the people. So the UK government increased the amount of National Insurance that employers pay for each employee, for each person who works for them. This has already massively affected the jobs market. The UK economy has for years been resilient because the job market was good. In particular there was plenty of work for young people who are starting out, probably the lowest paid. But now employers can't take the risk, don't want the extra cost and there are fewer and fewer jobs around. I know several people looking for work who are finding it really difficult at the moment. We haven't previously had a problem with unemployment amongst young people. That means young people out of work.
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How do you ‘grow an economy’? Simple thinking
Whereas now we might because of this government measure. The Labour government talk all the time about 'growing the economy'. It's basic economics surely that they don't seem to understand. 'It's not governments who grow economies, it's businesses'! That's what the other party, the Conservative Party say anyway. And I do agree with them on that. If you tax businesses too much they don't employ as many people. You have more people unemployed and therefore the government has to pay for more people. It's not exactly a cost saving is it or sensible? The Labour government's answer, 'We're going to revamp Job Centres'. So they're going to spend millions of pounds redoing government Job Centres around the country. They're like state recruitment agencies. This just drives me mad! It's not government money that means that there are jobs in the job agencies. And I actually don't know anyone who's ever been to a Job Centre. I went once when I was 21. Never been since, never needed to. People find jobs other places. Surely this is the sort of thing that one would learn in A level Economics? I hope someone somewhere in the Labour government has this sort of expertise. It's not currently evident though.
To be fair I didn't really like the previous government either. But this government could do with taking an Economics A level I think.
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Problems with electric vehicles (EV) sales
Another piece of news from the UK - the UK car industry is in turmoil. The targets, that's T-A-R-G-E-T, 'targets' in the UK for producing electric vehicles or EVs, well they rise every year. This year in the UK electric vehicles must make up 22% of car sales and 10% of van sales. The problem is there aren't enough people who want to buy EVs or not at the price they currently cost or the type of EV currently available. So all of this has meant that in the UK Vauxhall, V-A-U-X-H-A-L-L, Vauxhall is cutting jobs. They can't make enough money to keep these people employed. So electric vehicles are 22% of car sales, 10% of van sales and for every petrol car sale outside of those percentages, UK manufacturers have to pay a £15,000 fine. Next year in the targets are higher. 28% of car sales must be electric and for vans it's 16%. So if there aren't enough people wanting to buy electric vehicles currently, the problem's just going to get worse next year. It is important to reduce carbon emissions and pollution but you can't force people to buy electric cars that are still very expensive and aren't yet practical. The UK car manufacturing industry is going to be hit hard by these measures. Perhaps we need to rethink how we do this?
Can you think of any interesting topics that you’d like us to cover?
So there you have it. Interesting topics in the news last week in the UK, weather, politics and economics I promised you. Don't forget to share our podcast with anyone else you know who's learning English and don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already. You don't want to miss anything.
Goodbye
Enough for now. Have a lovely day. Speak to you again soon. Goodbye.
Thank you so much for listening. Please help me tell others about this podcast by reviewing or rating it. And, please share it on social media. You can find more listening lessons and a free English course at adeptenglish.com
Links
- Storm Conall
- Electric cars backlash grows
- Tax hikes to hit jobs
- How will car makers hit tough 2024 EV targets?
- Cheapest electric cars: UK's most affordable EVs
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