Word: britishism
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...narrow economic nationalism, that vetoed Britain's hopes for a free-trade area with the Common Market, and it was Britain's reluctance to give up its freedom of action that kept it from joining the Common Market as a full member. Economically, West Germany prefers the British free-trade area; politically, it treasures France's offer of close partnership in unifying Europe. Unlike the Common Market, the Outer Seven arrangement has no supranational institutions and leaves each nation to negotiate tariffs with nonmember nations as it sees fit. This is much to Britain's liking...
...While British farmers cried out in dismay, their government promised to guarantee a market for Danish bacon, blue cheese and other dairy products to offset Denmark's loss in joining the Outer Seven. This gesture will cost Britain nearly $20 million a year in tariff revenue alone...
Innumerable letters from outraged citizens and hapless victims pour in to British M.P.s demanding protection from the suffocating grip of bureaucracy. Sometimes the press takes up specific cases with a hue and cry, like that of Crichel Down, where a farmer defied the War Department's right in time of peace to hold onto land commandeered in time of war. or pleads for a Mrs. Christos, who went to jail for earning milk money for her children while on the dole (TIME, June 15). But often an M.P. has either too much work or not enough spunk...
Speaking over BBC radio at the invitation of British M.P.s, Denmark's Ombudsman Dr. Stephan Hurwitz outlined his duties. Elected by Parliament (in Hurwitz' case, unanimously), the ombudsman must be a lawyer; he is above party, has a legal staff and annual budget, and is the highest-salaried man in the Danish government. On receiving a complaint from a citizen, or on his own initiative, Dr. Hurwitz can investigate any civil or military establishment. The courts remain outside the ombudsman's control, but he is empowered to look into the affairs of state officials, from Cabinet ministers...
...that the ombudsman system would cut across the primary sources of parliamentary authority and power. They thought that what would work in the more placid arena of Scandinavia, with its tradition of dispassionate counselors such as Dag Hammarskjold. would not do so well in the bigger and more contentious British setting...