United Kingdom

From RationalWiki

The United Kingdom (full name: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) is a political entity which includes the island of Great Britain and six of the nine counties of the northern Irish province of Ulster, called Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is often known colloquially as Ulster.

Beginning in the seventeenth century, Great Britain created an empire which stretched across most of the planet. British colonial rule killed more people than the Nazis killed in the Holocaust, though over a much longer time period.^[1] The British Empire suffered great economic damage during the Second World War, which sort of brought the mother country down a notch. As the war ended, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as the world's two superpowers with killing abilities strengthened by modern technology, and the UK began a process of decolonization which was mostly over by the mid-1960s.

The UK is governed by a bicameral parliament at Westminster, and headed (little more than nominally) by the reigning monarch, currently Elizabeth II. In addition to Northern Ireland, this multinational state also includes the principality of Wales and the countries of Scotland and England. Together these are known as the Home Nations. The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are not part of the United Kingdom but are nice to visit. ^[2]

There is a minor debate about whether people from the UK should be called "Brits", or just "UKs". Off the Internet they are called British people or Britishers.

The UK does not suffer from the same kinds of right-wing evangelical loonies as the US does^[3]. Britain has a few of them (Daniel Kawczynski - Member of Parliament for Shrewsbury & Atcham being one) but they are less powerful, and they are not really a problem except to their families and their co-religionists. In the UK, it is just not cricket to go on and on about God, Jesus etc., especially when mixed with politics - probably because the British know perfectly well where that combination got them in earlier times. If the people weren't so British, you'd likely get a good kicking if you did. But you would more likely receive dirty looks and raised eyebrows, or be carted off to the local lunatic asylum for the rest of your life.

For example, Tony Blair had to wait until he was out of office before "coming out" as a Catholic, since he was advised by Alistair Campbell (his Minister of Propaganda) that "We don't do God, Mate." ^[4] On the other hand, Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats, the UK's third largest party, revealed he was an atheist during an interview with the BBC.^[5]

Americans often think that the terms "United Kingdom", "Britain" and "England" can be used interchangeably, which just shows what they know.

[edit] See also

• British Empire

[edit] Footnotes