Wednesday 14 November 2007

Is England a country?

Dear Readers,

From the topic of this post, I can sense the confused looks on all your faces with the abusive tone shouting at your monitors imagining my face: 'of course it bloody is!!! we won the world cup back in 66 dint we!'


But i then say to you - if England is a country - then what is the United Kingdom? Is the UK not a country?

If the UK is not a country - how come the UK competes in the olympics as a single country rather than as England?

I was watching a television program where this question was raised and the results were astounding.

Britain means England and Wales
Great Britain means England, Wales and Scotland
and the UK means Great Britain PLUS Northern Ireland.

Hearing this on my telly, I werent really happy so I had a look online and this only caused more confusion. So much divided opinion - you would think everyones a bleedin scholar in the field of UK Geography!!

so my next step was to consult my wise cousin - the good news was he didnt pretend to know the answer - he explained that there was a lot of debate and that there was no definitive correct answer. What he did do however was put in a beautiful way which I am going to quote herein:

If you try to put round pegs in square holes, you will be going round in circles forever.

Thus suffice it to say 'I know not whether England is a country as it is a question deeply rooted in subjectivity' or for those chavs out there:
'Who bloody knows wevva or not England is a country when every tom, dick and 'arry reckons somefin different!'

Hope we have all gained somethin from this...

Peace

4 comments:

jms said...

Sorry kids, but I really need to clear this up: I have family moving to London this September, so i did the requisite homework --

3 areas of concern; Great Britain, Ireland (both parts), and The United Kingdom.

OK - Great Britain is an island containing 3 autonomous regions ("Regions"; Not countries) - England, Scotland, and Wales. The United Kingdom is the COUNTRY which contains Great Britain, and Northern Ireland. "Lower" Ireland, or the Republic of Ireland, remains autonomous from Northern Ireland, allowing it to remain Catholic with allegiance to The Vatican. Northern Ireland, being part of the UK (Full country name: "The United Kindom and Northern Ireland") continues to create the Catholic/Protestant religious strife.
SO - to sum up; England, Scotland and Wales are NOT countries - they are simply REGIONS on the island of Great Britain. The island of Great Britain is a a piece of the country of The United Kingdom, along with along with Northern Ireland. It amazes me the misconceptions that are out there ....

Anonymous said...

There is no confusion. England is a region of the country of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Norther Ireland.

Similarly, Texas is a region of the United States of America.

rj said...

Ya really are Silly
Texas is a State of the United States not a Region theres a Difference, and the UK Is Made up of Devolved-Countries ''Countries'
and 2 Countries have the Right of Succession in there Constitutions
The North of Ireland, and Scotland
so theres a Difference so Effectully Sovereignty remains with the people and Not the Parliament. the UK Parliament Members are a bunch of Theifs so I Cant wait till a United Ireland, and My Wee Home '' the North of Ireland'' will No Longer be in Anyway Controled by the UK Parliament in anyway.
Hopefully when we go into a United Ireland it will Be Federal and the MP'S Wont be Theifing Bastards like the UK MP'S

Anonymous said...

Beexesosaub
[url=http://healthplusrx.com/lipovarin-reviews]lipovarin reviews[/url]
Esselpundusef