[Leica] OT: What about England

[pdzwig at summaventures.com (Peter Dzwig)]

Adam Bridge wrote:

> I was listening to the news today and I heard a reporter sign off from
> London, England.
> 
> Someplace along the line I was bashed pretty hard (not here) about there
> being a United Kingdom but that England wasn't precisely a place. So I've
> always used U.K.
> 
> What's "correct" and what's general usage. And does it really matter?
> 
> I'm curious and wanted to know.
> 
> An aside: Has anyone tried the McCallan Scotch that's aged in oak wine
> barrels? It sure sounds mellow to me. Read about it in the Wall Street
> Journal's article on Scotch that was out this weekend.
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Adam
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
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> 
> 
Adam,

It's simple:

The United Kingdom is made up of England, Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland; 
each 
of which except for Northern Ireland, which has the status of "province", is 
legally a country in its own right and I am not going to discuss further 
here. 
For example Scotland has its own legal system and currency (same names 
different 
notes etc; very different laws in some areas). Under conquest and the 
various 
Acts of Union etc, all surrendered their powers to Westminster. Lately the 
constituents have been granted limited autonomy, which has been seized upon 
by 
both Welsh and Scots, causing conflict with Westminster. In addition various 
other constituents such as the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man have 
their 
own legal and tax systems which interact with the Enflish system in various 
ways. Berwick-upon-Tweed is a completely different case with until recently 
a 
seperate standing under international treaty and has only recently made its 
peace with Russia after the Crimean War.

Great Britain is the same geographic entity. These days it tends to be used 
to 
denote the complete political entity and provides, for example, the 
generally 
excepted international designation, ie GB.

England is therefore VERY DEFINITELY a place. You have been wrongly 
"bashed". 
Americans do have an annoying habit of failing to distinguish between 
England 
and the UK/GB. People get very fed up about that for both nationalistic 
reasons 
and because it betrays a lack of comprehension of the geography of one of 
the 
US's oldest allies.

The British Isles is the geographical name for the archipelago off the coast 
of 
the NW European mainland which includes the above plus Eire and is rarely 
used 
these days except in geographical/meteorological contexts.

With apologies for any groups/islands/counties whose toes I may have trodden 
on 
in the course of this rapid summary.

Hope that this helps.

Peter Dzwig