The Difference between the United Kingdom, Great Britain and England Explained

[Big Don]

Interesting and entertaining five minute video.
Comments, Tez? Suke? Yorkshire?
At 1:51, he says, "When people say they are Irish, they are referring to the Republic of Ireland." Somehow, I think when people say they are Irish, it is a geographic distinction rather than a political one.

 

[LuckyKBoxer]

that was pretty cool.
I hope thats all correct.
I was mesmerized by it.

 

[girlbug2]

If you take away only one thing from this youtube video, remember: the crown was given its authority because God can't be bothered with micromanagement :lol:

 

[Tez3]

Have no speakers on computer so sorry can't comment.

 

[K-man]

Sounds good to me except for the minor issue of my Irish ancestry. Accorning to this I no longer have Irish forebears because they came from Northern Ireland. :erg: I'm not totally disenfranchised as other ancesters came from England, Scotland and Wales, all over 150 years ago. This means that my ancestry now is 'Great Britain'. I suppose that now makes me a purebred rather than the mongrel I always thought I was!

 

[Tez3]

I read the blog instead. Seems very simplistic, I can see why putting England in red and Wales in white will inflame the Welsh though as one comment on the video showed, not a good idea and seems to show a lack of knowledge. The people of Northern Ireland do indeed see themselves as Irish, I can't think what else you'd call them, some of the population want to stay as part of the UK some don't but all see themselves as Irish.
The islands of the Clyde are actually the Islands in the Firth of Clyde a fairly big difference if you are a Scot as my dad will tell you.
The Divine Right of Kings here stopped when we chopped King Charles the Firsts head off, we have a Constitutional Monarchy now.
The English did invade Wales and conquer them but the Scots weren't conquered, they joined with England when Queen Elizabeth the First died leaving the throne to King James of Scotland who joined the countries. Ireland is a long sorry tale, they have been cruelly mistreated I'm afraid.

The Shetland Islanders while they see themselves as part of the United Kingdom they don't like being regarded as Scottish, they have their own flag which is the Nordic white cross on the blue background, they have petitioned in the past to become like the Isle of Man or the Faroes, a British or Norweigian protectorate.

I was disappointed to see the Cornish left out of the blog at least, the Cornish are a Celtic people with language, culture and beliefs different from the non Celts.

 

[Big Don]

. The people of Northern Ireland do indeed see themselves as Irish, I can't think what else you'd call them, some of the population want to stay as part of the UK some don't but all see themselves as Irish.

I was pretty sure that would be true. Thanks for the confirmation.

The Divine Right of Kings here stopped when we chopped King Charles the Firsts head off, we have a Constitutional Monarchy now.

But, the Queen is still Defender of the Faith, isn't she?The history of the UK is pretty interesting. That the Queen is technically the Lord of Man, is a neat little factoid, that had me reading for quite a while today.

 

[Tez3]

I was pretty sure that would be true. Thanks for the confirmation.But, the Queen is still Defender of the Faith, isn't she?
The history of the UK is pretty interesting. That the Queen is technically the Lord of Man, is a neat little factoid, that had me reading for quite a while today.

She is but Charles wants to be the Defender of Faiths. He's also the Lord of the Isles which always sounds a romantic title.
One story about the Isle of Man and royalty is that every time they come to the island there's thick fog and they never actually see it. I don't think many places have more myths and magic associated to them than Man. It even has fairies you must stay good morning to!
I can't think of what the Northern Irish would want to be called if not Irish tbh, I know some call themselves Ulstermen but that tends to be political.

 

[Ken Morgan]

The people of Northern Ireland do indeed see themselves as Irish, I can't think what else you'd call them, some of the population want to stay as part of the UK some don't but all see themselves as Irish.

If you ever call my family Irish to say they would not be happy, would be quite an understatement, they consider themselves to be either British, Northern Irish or Ulster Scot, but never Irish.

Its funny in a sad way, but much of the Irish immigration to the US in the 18 & 19 century was Ulster-Scot, then two hundred years later many Americans helped to fund the IRA, because they had Irish ancestry. They were completely unaware that they were paying people to make war against their extended family.

 

[Tez3]

If you ever call my family Irish to say they would not be happy, would be quite an understatement, they consider themselves to be either British, Northern Irish or Ulster Scot, but never Irish.

Its funny in a sad way, but much of the Irish immigration to the US in the 18 & 19 century was Ulster-Scot, then two hundred years later many Americans helped to fund the IRA, because they had Irish ancestry. They were completely unaware that they were paying people to make war against their extended family.

Trouble is the majority of the population of Northern Ireland are Catholics who regard themselves as Irish, the minority are the Protestants who make a point of saying they aren't Irish. 'Ulster Scot', Brit or even Northern Irish is a red rag to a bull as far as the majority are concerned which of course the minority know so use it even more. The Scottish are regarded as usurpers and as bad as the English by the Catholic community for what went on in the past which as far as many in Northern Ireland are concerned is never as far away as it is for the rest of us. For them all it's just yesterday that the English landlords moved the Scots in to take over the land. The Scots of course being Protestant and therefore the English lackeys. Grievances won't die in Northern Ireland, they are carried on for generations and there will never be peace until it stops.

 

[Ken Morgan]

Are the Protestants not still the majority by the slimmest of margins?

I’m not denying there was some serious crap going on over the centuries, but at what point does all the animosity go away?

The Plantation period was 400 years ago, the same time parts of Canada and the USA were being settled by many of the same peoples that settled in Ireland. I suppose if the native Canadians/Americans had significantly larger populations North America may have found itself in the same situation as Northern Ireland.

 

[Carol]

Are the Protestants not still the majority by the slimmest of margins?

I’m not denying there was some serious crap going on over the centuries, but at what point does all the animosity go away?

When differing people can co-exist. Hence the trouble of dismissing the tension to "fighting over a book" -- the criticism we often hear in North America when tensions abroad are among religions boundaries.

It is never that simple. There are religious differences, sure, but the cultural differences are far more than than which house of worship a person goes to attend. The impact to the culture permeates the language spoken, how a person dresses, the games kids play growing up, the traditions that people do enjoy as a family. No one likes to be marginalized out.

Coexistence is much easier said than done, especially when there are large centers of power (be it the forces of government, the Vatican, or something else entirely) that wish to tip the balance in a particular direction.

 

[Tez3]

Are the Protestants not still the majority by the slimmest of margins?

I’m not denying there was some serious crap going on over the centuries, but at what point does all the animosity go away?

The Plantation period was 400 years ago, the same time parts of Canada and the USA were being settled by many of the same peoples that settled in Ireland. I suppose if the native Canadians/Americans had significantly larger populations North America may have found itself in the same situation as Northern Ireland.

All the Protestants in Ireland (north and south) are regarded by the Catholics as people brought in by the English to take over Ireland, many of these were Scottish though a good many English from the big English estates were sent over to farm and generally take the land over, the majoirty of the Protestants ended up in Northern Ireland..Ulster. this started centuries ago but it's never forgotten by either side, it's like the mafias vendetta, each death, each murder spawns vengence and payback so it never ends. The Orangemen march through the Catholic areas to aggrevate the Catholics, the Catholics vow never to gorget that their land was taken and they were disenfranchised, the Protestants vow never to foget they are British and it goes on and on. A Catholic is killed so two Protestanst are killed so three Catholics are killed, it doesn't end, the terrorists just don't want to put down their weapons. There's kneecappings, shootings and bombings, both sides have groups that claim to police their people so more kneecappings and shootings. The vast majority want to put it behind them and rebuild the country, millions of pounds have been spent on regeneration but still there's those you can't let go. Many are still fighting the Battle of the Boyne which to us was in 1690 but to them was last week, seriously. Marching season in Northern Ireland is better avoided. This was last years.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/stand...and-police-as-marching-season-sparks-riots.do

when will there be peace? How longs a piece of string.

 

[Archangel M]

When differing people can co-exist. Hence the trouble of dismissing the tension to "fighting over a book" -- the criticism we often hear in North America when tensions abroad are among religions boundaries.

The difference being that we tend to argue, spout "violent rhetoric" , and do silly things like protest at soldiers funerals. Yes, we have the rare hate group, ethnic oriented killing or historic period where we killed Native Americans, had slavery etc. But we had the ability to get to a point where I don't believe that will happen again here. "Over there" this stuff has routinely turned into outright wars, holocausts, progoms, Balkan/Bosnia situations etc. MANY of our immigrant ancestors left the "old country" to escape that "blood of our forefathers" stuff and to a large extent we have been successful towards those ends. Even our Civil War, which was only "yesterday" in historic terms has by and large subsided. Some people may still talk about the "Northern War of Aggression", but I don't forsee a Bosnia type situation ever arising here where Southerners reignite old greviances. Over there the Bosnian people went right back to killing each other over issues that originated millenium's ago.

While religious fundamentalism and the yearly debates over X-mass and school prayer may make news around here, and Europeans seem to like to point fingers at us as being overly "Fundamentalist", I think that in the grand scheme of things the US is a model of tolerance when one considers how many different cultures and ethnic groups have been tossed into the "melting pot" in course of this nations history. Espically when one looks at how ethnic/religious differences have resulted in large scale upheaval in MANY other areas of the world.

 

[Sukerkin]

Leaving aside the eternal 'Irish Question', that was an interesting precis of the subject that Don posted - I particularly liked the diagrammatic breakdown of how the various arms of the country and the Empire related to each other.

The distinctions are still important, even after centuries. For example, tho' I wont make a fuss about it generally (depending on my mood that is ), I much prefer to be called English than British. It's what I am, rather than where I live, so to speak.

That sense of rooted 'belonging' comes about when your family has lived in the same town for a thousand years :lol: - it is only in the past decade that Beardmore Farm ceased to exist as a working entity (it's a darned housing estate now ... get OFF my land! :waves shotgun: ).

 

[Tez3]

Leaving aside the eternal 'Irish Question', that was an interesting precis of the subject that Don posted - I particularly liked the diagrammatic breakdown of how the various arms of the country and the Empire related to each other.

The distinctions are still important, even after centuries. For example, tho' I wont make a fuss about it generally (depending on my mood that is ), I much prefer to be called English than British. It's what I am, rather than where I live, so to speak.

That sense of rooted 'belonging' comes about when your family has lived in the same town for a thousand years :lol: - it is only in the past decade that Beardmore Farm ceased to exist as a working entity (it's a darned housing estate now ... get OFF my land! :waves shotgun: ).

All true, my other half won't even say he's English, he's Yorkshire! He says that when asked his religion too! He's convinced though he's descended from the Vikings which is likely to be true.
I don't know what I feel I am, my mother was Dutch, my father Scottish, I grew up in England and Scotland then moved every three years for twenty odd years, now I'm looking to move to Cornwall. If I sit and think I feel most connected to Israel, land of my fathers etc etc it's something concrete to anchor myself on I suppose, the thousand year thing perhaps. My mother was never convinced we wouldn't have to move out of the UK even though the last pogrom in the UK was in the early 1900s in Wales.

Archangel, I think it's about space too, you've enough country for people to spread out, to concentrate on making their lives better, things are never good in small crowded countries where people tend to live on top of each other and rivalries/hatreds/vendettas etc get carried on and remembered. I think too there was a willingness in the immigrants coming in to the new country to leave the old times behind, hopefully, anyway and meld into being citizens of their new country. I think too that they were too busy surviving to carry on old arguments to a large extent.

In the rich areas people from different backgrounds get on fine, they perceive each other as equals but in poor areas it's different, no one is equal and everyone fighting for their share of the little that is going. Europe had it's share of rich people but there has also been some shocking poverty which breeds hatred and unrest. It's not really religion as such that's the problem in Northern Ireland it was the poverty Catholics found themselves in and the wealth the Protestants had. Strife and wars are nearly always about the same things, power, wealth and land.

You could have that situation arise in America if you ever had a huge part of the population in poverty with a wealthy 'upper class'. How likely that is to happen I don't know, probably unlikely but you never know what turn the economic situation can take.