On 15 Apr 2009 12:32:11 GMT someone who may be Adrian
wrote this:-

Funny. I thought both were definitely in the United Kingdom.

They are, but Sotland and England are different countries. The clue is
in the the fact that they have different names and different legal
structures.

Ah, right. So California and Florida are different countries, too?

The legal/constitutional arrangements of the USA and the UK are
somewhat different, despite much of the USA legal system having been
inherited from the British Isles. Trying to equate them is not a
convincing argument.

The clue, a large clue, is in the name United Kingdom. There was a
union of crowns, under the Scottish King James VI. However, that did
not mean that the three countries disappeared, England, Scotland and
Ireland [1]. Wales had been partly absorbed by England long before
and is best thought of as a Principality, the official name, not the
least because Wales generally had princes (what one might call
chieftains), rather than one king, until the English invasion.
Northern Ireland is a Province, formed from part of Ireland. Two
countries, one principality, one province.

Unions of parliaments and the question of where government was
located were separate issues at separate times. For brevity I have
left out the Isle of Man and Channel Islands.

Like any relationship there can be separate ideas on some subjects.
That is good, but it becomes tiresome when some sulk as Little
Englanders do from time to time. Having different ideas on some
subject does not necessarily mean a desire to break the
relationship.

It is a pity education on this sort of thing is so poor, especially
in England. The UK does not have a one size fits all solution
imposed from above.

This is not unique. Norway, Sweden and Denmark did at one time have
a union of kings, originally under a Norwegian King. The Swedish
emblem of three crowns is an echo of this [2], as is the common
travel area. The union of parliaments was a separate process. After
much talk, arguments over language, unrest, wars and near wars
prevented by great statesmanship, all three countries have separate
crowns and parliaments, but they were always three countries, no
matter what the arrangements for kings and parliaments.


[1] I know the union with Ireland came later.

[2] probably. There are other stories of why it was created.




--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54