The school part I can tell you: it'd probably be the local comprehensive. There's an exam called the 11+ that used to be compulsory. If you passed, you went to a grammar school where you were encouraged to take lots of exams and stay at school until you were 18 (and maybe uni - more so recently), if you failed it was the comprehensive. At a comp, it's a bit more vocational, and generally a bit rougher. They're generally the schools that struggle to catch and keep good teachers. In my borough in 1993 I had to opt in to take it; my friends in the next borough over all took it as part of their normal school week. I don't know offhand when it turned optional - eighties? Your character would definitely have had the option of either, but stereotypically the working class went to comps and the middle class went to grammar schools. There would probably have been a choice of mixed or single sex in either case. There's a third option - private school, but unless that shop was doing really, really well it's unlikely your character would go there. If you want him to, he could have won a scholarship - my brother got into private school at half price that way, and some of his friends went for free.
Shopkeepers? Sure. There's the corner shop (so called regardless of its actual placement), the greengrocers, the butchers, the bakery, DIY shops and so on. They're often family run, but recently a lot have been bought out by bigger companies.
Politics... not my strong suit, but I'll give it a shot. Our boroughs each have an MP. We vote in local elections every few (4?) years to select our local MP (member of parliament). Whichever party has the most MPs is usually the one in power, but not necessarily. The prime minister only changes at a General Election, in the case of a change in leading political party; or due to an internal party change like we just had with Blair/Brown. We also have the ocassional by-election (sp?), which is when we need to vote in a new MP ahead of schedule - for a resignation or death. There have been times when the balance of power has changed between general elections and the leading party doesn't have a majority in the House of Commons, (where all the MPs get together to insult each other and jeer and other important political stuff) and as I recall 1990 or so was a period when this was happening. After Maggie stood down, John Major was the PM, but he was so crap that the Conservatives lost their majority to Labour, who're still in power now. The PM is an MP who got voted in by the other MPs to lead the party. We never actually vote for Prime Minister, we vote for the representative of the party we want to run our local council. Sometimes tow representatives run for the same party, but usually it's just one per major party - Conservatives (aka Tories), Labour, and Lib Dem, plus some fringe parties. Back then the Green party were around, and my grandma always voted for Lord Such's guys, the Monster Raving Looneys.
GLBT - not much of an idea. It's probably pretty safe to base it on America's but with less conflict and more muttering. And different slang, of course. It's not queer, it's poufs for boys and dykes for lesbians.
That was all a bit stream-of-consciousness, hope it's clear and helps! Need any clarification?
no subject
Shopkeepers? Sure. There's the corner shop (so called regardless of its actual placement), the greengrocers, the butchers, the bakery, DIY shops and so on. They're often family run, but recently a lot have been bought out by bigger companies.
Politics... not my strong suit, but I'll give it a shot. Our boroughs each have an MP. We vote in local elections every few (4?) years to select our local MP (member of parliament). Whichever party has the most MPs is usually the one in power, but not necessarily. The prime minister only changes at a General Election, in the case of a change in leading political party; or due to an internal party change like we just had with Blair/Brown. We also have the ocassional by-election (sp?), which is when we need to vote in a new MP ahead of schedule - for a resignation or death. There have been times when the balance of power has changed between general elections and the leading party doesn't have a majority in the House of Commons, (where all the MPs get together to insult each other and jeer and other important political stuff) and as I recall 1990 or so was a period when this was happening. After Maggie stood down, John Major was the PM, but he was so crap that the Conservatives lost their majority to Labour, who're still in power now. The PM is an MP who got voted in by the other MPs to lead the party. We never actually vote for Prime Minister, we vote for the representative of the party we want to run our local council. Sometimes tow representatives run for the same party, but usually it's just one per major party - Conservatives (aka Tories), Labour, and Lib Dem, plus some fringe parties. Back then the Green party were around, and my grandma always voted for Lord Such's guys, the Monster Raving Looneys.
GLBT - not much of an idea. It's probably pretty safe to base it on America's but with less conflict and more muttering. And different slang, of course. It's not queer, it's poufs for boys and dykes for lesbians.
That was all a bit stream-of-consciousness, hope it's clear and helps! Need any clarification?