I have questions for all the UK peoples, Forgive my american Options

[97celiman]

Alright so it being the end of my senior year and my dad a pilot, we are talking about an end of the year trip overseas to europe. I'm not really in to the whole, tour all of europe in 14 days deal, this will probably be one MAYBE two countries and i'm pretty sure i get to pick. obviously since i am american i am not fluent in any other language, unlike a certain german exchange student friend of mine who makes me feel retarted everyday with his tri-lingualness.

Anyway, my dad has been to both france and italy with his parents a few times. My whole family crazy opera, wine, and dem. loving people (in texas! i know, its crazy) I however didn't really want to go to either (not because i dont like them i would just rather go elsewhere) My heritage is almost perfectly divided 3 ways between Welsh, French and Irish-hence the interest

So basically i have questions about the "UK" i put it in quotes b/c im confused as to what is considered the "UK"
1) Am i correct in saying it is England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales?

2) Why is it Prince Henry of Wales and not England?

3) What are some of the ahhh rivalries? within scotland england ireland etc.?

4) Is wales a part of england or the uk (as in Mexico being part of US or north america)

5) If i go to England, is there really that much of a language barrier, we say coupe with a silent 'e' that sort of thing, my dad says there still would be even though it is both english (compared to me going to france although i should mention my stepmom is fluent in spanish, french, japanese, probably some other i cant remember so this would be a plus in france that sort of thing)


7) The other big reason i want to go to the UK is just the history, the norman, roman, anglo-saxon, beowulf history surrounding it (and braveheart! jk)
I find the british conquests interesting the scottish independence that sort of thing. can anyone recommend and good books to read that would explain this more? (i liked guns, germs and steel but that was very broad)

8) finally, please forgive me if i offended anyone, but i figured i'd ask now before i go there. im doing this as part of my research(ing) just wanted opinions from the natives.

9) if anyone can think of anything else write it up

10) thanks, i have a snow day (well ice day) here so i had to do something (i know snow day in texas!!!!) im sure people up north would scoff at this weather

This post has been edited by 97celiman: Jan 27, 2009 - 8:10 PM

[plasticgeordie20...]

So basically i have questions about the "UK" i put it in quotes b/c im confused as to what is considered the "UK"

1) Am i correct in saying it is England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales? - Yes plus Northern ireland

2) Why is it Prince Henry of Wales and not England? - Because he is the son of the Prince of Wales (Charles) who is the first in line to the throne.

3) What are some of the ahhh rivalries? within scotland england ireland etc.? - There are loads of rivalries basically everyone expcet the northern irish hate england

4) Is wales a part of england or the uk (as in Mexico being part of US or north america) - Wales is a seperate country within the United Kingdom

5) If i go to England, is there really that much of a language barrier, we say coupe with a silent 'e' that sort of thing, my dad says there still would be even though it is both english (compared to me going to france although i should mention my stepmom is fluent in spanish, french, japanese, probably some other i cant remember so this would be a plus in france that sort of thing) - Language barrier is not that bad to be honest I used to work for Lockheed Martin and it didnt affect working with Americans on a daily basis

6) My biggest interest is in either Ireland or Scotland then England and then Germany bringing up the rear, although i would be happy with any of them. - Not sure what the question is here

7) The other big reason i want to go to the UK is just the history, the norman, roman, anglo-saxon, beowulf history surrounding it (and braveheart! jk)
I find the british conquests interesting the scottish independence that sort of thing can anyone recommend and good books to read that would explain this more (i liked guns, germs and steel but that was very broad). - Not sure what the question is here

8) finally, please forgive me if i offended anyone, but i figured i'd ask now before i go there. im doing this as part of my research(ing) just wanted opinions from the natives. - Havent offended me

Hope that helps

This post has been edited by plasticgeordie2007: Jan 27, 2009 - 5:18 PM

[manphibian]

1) Am i correct in saying it is England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales? Ireland is NOT part of the UK. Northern Ireland is.

2) Why is it Prince Henry of Wales and not England? HENRY?????? Do you mean Harry? the ginger one? Yeah, his dad is the prince of Wales, goes back to the time when we conquered it, way back...

3) What are some of the ahhh rivalries? within scotland england ireland etc.? Wales and Scotland don't like England too much. Because we're better

4) Is wales a part of england or the uk (as in Mexico being part of US or north america) Wales is kind of a separate country, but not really. No border control or anything...

5) If i go to England, is there really that much of a language barrier, we say coupe with a silent 'e' that sort of thing, my dad says there still would be even though it is both english (compared to me going to france although i should mention my stepmom is fluent in spanish, french, japanese, probably some other i cant remember so this would be a plus in france that sort of thing) You will be fine in England

6) My biggest interest is in either Ireland or Scotland then England and then Germany bringing up the rear, although i would be happy with any of them.

7) The other big reason i want to go to the UK is just the history, the norman, roman, anglo-saxon, beowulf history surrounding it (and braveheart! jk)
I find the british conquests interesting the scottish independence that sort of thing can anyone recommend and good books to read that would explain this more (i liked guns, germs and steel but that was very broad) Will have to have a think....

8) finally, please forgive me if i offended anyone, but i figured i'd ask now before i go there. im doing this as part of my research(ing) just wanted opinions from the natives.

9) if anyone can think of anything else write it up
Wales and Scotland have the most amazing scenery, England has more things to actually do.... What kinds of things would you actually like to do/see?

10) thanks, i have a snow day (well ice day) here so i had to do something (i know snow day in texas!!!!) im sure people up north would scoff at this weather

[BloodyStupidDave...]

So basically i have questions about the "UK" i put it in quotes b/c im confused as to what is considered the "UK"
1) Am i correct in saying it is England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales?

England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (NI) form the UK. To further confuse you, it is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - NI isn't part of Great Britain but the other three are.

2) Why is it Prince Henry of Wales and not England?

It is a title and style rather than a reign. A bit like your titles Commander and Chief and so on. The Prince of Wales is the title for the Heir Apparent ("HRH Prince Charles, Prince of Wales") and his sons adopt the equivalent titles ("HRH Prince William of Wales" for Prince William and "HRH Prince Henry of Wales" for Prince Harry as he likes to be called) as second and third in of succession for 16 Independent States including the UK.

I'm not sure why Prince William enrolled first at University and then in the Military as William Wales rather than William Windsor, other than it was his choice.

Other common titles and styles held by members of the Royal Family (not all titles currently in use) include:
* HRH Duke of Edinburgh
* HRH Duke & Duchess of Cornwall
* HRH Duke & Duchess of York
* HRH Earl and Countess of Wessex
* HRH Princess Royal
* HRH Duke & Duchess of Gloucester
* HRH Duke & Duchess of Kent

3) What are some of the ahhh rivalries? within scotland england ireland etc.?

Short answer: See answer to no. 4.

Long answer: Basically, many in Scotland want complete autonomy, so London gives them just enough to whet their apetite, but not enough to be of any real use. Meanwhile, Wales wants the same level of autonomy as Scotland, so London gives them less than Scotland. However, many in London (and some in Scotland) think Scotland would be much worse off if they had complete autonomy as they wouldn't get money from London (one of the biggest financial centers in the world) to prop up their national economy. Similar for Wales. So some in England think that we are being responsible by denying Scotland and Wales greater autonomy. But then there are those in England who resent London giving money rasied from English taxes to Scotland and Wales in the first place and so support greater autonomy for Scotland and Wales. And that is only in the last 15 years or so - stuff like this has been going on for around 1600 years!

I won't even go into the Northern Ireland vs Republic or Ireland (ROI) thing other than to remark that if you look at a map of the island, you'll notice that there are bits of ROI that are more northerly than the most norther parts of NI. It is as if they just picked the provinces with a majority protestant population.


4) Is wales a part of england or the uk (as in Mexico being part of US or north america)

From a Government and legal administration point-of-view, England and Wales together form a single unit. Historically, this is because Wales was conqured (around 1600 years ago) and was annexed to England for administrative purposes. Today, the country of Wales is given some freedom to control its own local matters through a local government assembly (The Welsh Assembly). Contrast this with the greater (but not complete) freedom and autonomy afforded to Scotland via the Scottish Government.

5) If i go to England, is there really that much of a language barrier, we say coupe with a silent 'e' that sort of thing, my dad says there still would be even though it is both english (compared to me going to france although i should mention my stepmom is fluent in spanish, french, japanese, probably some other i cant remember so this would be a plus in france that sort of thing)

Nope, not really a language barrier (I think it was George Bernard Shaw who said about England and America being "two nations divided by a common language" - he was right). As long as you can cope with everyone knowing you are American, accusing you of being Canadian, Australian or a Damn Tourist, not getting offended when someone asks you for a fag and resist offending others by refering to your pants or fanny-bag, you'll be fine!

10) thanks, i have a snow day (well ice day) here so i had to do something (i know snow day in texas!!!!) im sure people up north would scoff at this weather

Actually, that is another good point - don't mention the war, weather, youths or the national health service if you need to be anywhere in the next two hours.

This post has been edited by BloodyStupidDavey: Jan 27, 2009 - 6:59 PM

[97celiman]

Dont worry i dont smoke (yay i'm not completely incompetent!) How do you get American accent confused with Australian or Canadian??? America has the laziest vowels ever. (Plus we dont say Crikey!!!!) honestly though australia was my first choice but the whole being winter when its my summer kinda throughs a wrench in the whole plan.

so England is sort of the "Head Honcho" of the UK? but all of these countries (other than Northern Ireland) are part of the UK?

Is the northern ireland bit the whole deal back in the 80's and 90's with the IRA? (this is the book part of this whole equation) I thought this ended and ireland was now united (more or less)

Scenery wise i think ireland and scotland have england beat (seriously how much rain does one country need?) Although i would like to see stonehenge, and mind you, this is just internet and nat geo magazine picture looking.

So Wales operates under the same Parliament as England (ie-same govt, not two different types) when concerning more than local matters? Im assuming the Welsh assembly has limited power when it comes to national matters?

Military wise, Each country has a seperate Armed Forces (navy, army, air force, marines? i know england is royal everything what is scotland etc.)

So yes im going to reference braveheart just because thats all i can think of- if you take that time frame and what was going on, (when scotland wanted independence from british rule) scotland was able to obtain FREEEEEEDDDDDOOOOOMMMM however now they are sorta under british law?

Ex. When Britain decides to send troops somewhere, do scottish troops go or just english troops? I dont understand the limits of England amongst the other countries.

So ireland seems to have alot alot alot of civil unrest, is this currently going on? i realize its not jerusalem but is it dangerous say in northern ireland or do they just have different political ideals?

Thanks again, i know i wanna go somewhere in the UK and honestly im thinking of either Scotland or Ireland but i dunno yet. (i mean scotland has kilts and bagpipes )

Also should be mentioned that while i've been most everywhere in the US i still havent been to NYC so maybe there although i think we are for sure overseas somewhere.

[BloodyStupidDave...]

Dont worry i dont smoke (yay i'm not completely incompetent!) How do you get American accent confused with Australian or Canadian??? America has the laziest vowels ever. (Plus we dont say Crikey!!!!) honestly though australia was my first choice but the whole being winter when its my summer kinda throughs a wrench in the whole plan.

We don't. We just think it is funny. Same way that some Americans think acusing people from the UK of being Kiwis or Aussies is funny.

so England is sort of the "Head Honcho" of the UK? but all of these countries (other than Northern Ireland) are part of the UK?

They are all part of the UK, including Northern Island. But only England, Scotland and Wales are part of Great Britain. Confusing isn't it? And like others have said, don't confuse Northern Ireland with (Republic of Ireland). They are on the same island, but are completely independent of each other - like Canada and Mexico.

Is the northern ireland bit the whole deal back in the 80's and 90's with the IRA? (this is the book part of this whole equation) I thought this ended and ireland was now united (more or less)

Prior to the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169, Ireland was ruled by a complex hierarchy of Kings, each controlling a separate Kingdom within Ireland. Following the successful invasion, the Papacy granted Ireland to Henry II of England, who duly awarded his Irish territory to his Son, John, as the first Lord of Ireland. A peerage-based Parliamentary system was started in 1297, encapsulating existing structure where commoners tended to speak Gaelic and practice Catholicism; and the administrators, many of whom were noble and/or of English descent, spoke English.

During the 1530s, Henry VIII overthrew the Roman Catholic church in England, replacing the Pope as the head of the Church of England. In 1541 Henry VIII, who had been excommunicated by the Catholic Church and was concerned about the Papacy of Ireland renouncing the grant, sought to strengthen the unfinished Norman conquest by enforcing rule throughout Ireland and upgrading Ireland from a lordship to a full Crown Kingdom. Henry was duly crowned King of the Kingdom of Ireland. During the 1500s there had been a number of unsuccessful uprisings. King Henry attempted to mitigate the risk of further uprisings both by affording commoners more freedoms and by attempting to convert the country to protestant. The latter was very heavy-handed and largely unsuccessful. In 1570, the Pope issued a bull declaring the then-monarch, Elizabeth I, to be a heretic and releasing her (Irish) subjects from allegiance to her. For the next 100 years, successive kings and queens attempted complete the conquest of Ireland. Gaelic and Catholic Lords were slowly replaced with members that were loyal to the English Crown. Eventually English and Scottish representatives were permitted to be elected to the Irish Parliament. Catholic members were not disbarred from voting or sitting until the Irish rebellion of 1641.

An uprising of Parliamentarians lead by William of Orange (governor of the Dutch Republic) overthrew the throne of King James II of England in 1688, following James II's attempts to re-install Roman Catholicism in England. William, jointly with James' daughter Mary II (who was Protestant), took the throne (William becoming William III) and installed a parliamentary government thus starting what has evolved into the democratic system we have today.
The ousted James II went to Ireland to attempt to gain support and restore his crown. He was unsuccessful, beaten by William III's forces. Over the next 100 years, increasingly discriminatory legislation was passed in Ireland

In the 1798, following the American and French revolutions, Catholic Irish rose up seeking reform, repel of laws with a religious bias and greater autonomy from Britain. The French attempted to assist but were forced to surrender to a larger Royal Navy force without ever setting foot on Irish soil. Following the defeat of the rebellion, and repression of the people. The Act of Union was passed two years later, merging the crowns of Great Britain and Ireland into one (the Crowns of England and Scotland had been merged to form the Crown of Great Britain in 1707), thus forming the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Since 1800 there have been ongoing calls for home rule (greater self-government) from some - a subject that has always been divisive, with unionists (who are mainly protestant) against and Nationalists (who are mainly catholic) for. Unionists were in the minority in the island of Ireland as a whole, but in a strong majority in two counties within the province of Ulster, a small minority within two other counties in Ulster and a very large minority in two further counties of Ulster. Thus overall, the province of Ulster had a protestant majority.

Following the mass smuggling of rifles and ammunition from Imperial Germany to arm the Ulster volunteers, a civil war looked almost inevitable. The Third Home Rule act was passed in 1914, providing provision for a temporary partition in the hopes of avoiding a civil war. The implementation was suspended due to the outbreak of the first world war. The Nationalists response to the arming of the Ulster volunteers was the establishment of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and later the illegal paramilitary Irish Republican Army (IRA). A key date was Easter Weekend 1916 when the IRB proclaimed that Ireland was to be a republic, publishing its manifesto and notice of its intent to from a provisional government in national newspapers. This became known as the Easter Rising.

By the time WWI was over, the Nationalist party had set itself up and had moved its sights from home rule to independence. Following the British Governments' refusal to recognise first the IRB and then - following Sinn Féin's win in the parlimentary elections - Sinn Féin's establishment of the Republic, the Irish War of Independence ensued. A new bill was proposed in 1919 and passed in 1921 establishing a government for 26 counties (including three counties from Ulster plus three northern counties outside of Ulster) with the goverment sitting in Dublin and a government for the remaining 6 counties of Ulster with its government sitting in Belfast. As expected, on the first sitting of the Ulster goverment, they opted out, allowing London to continue to rule over the state.

On the 50th Anniversary of Easter Rising (1966), unionists perceived the revival of the IRA and set up the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), an illegal paramilitary organisation that began a campaign of intimidation, domination and violence over catholic in the area as well as hits on infrastructure and protestants that it hoped would be blamed on the IRA. A peaceful march by the NICRA in 1968 was met by a violent backlash from police and civil authorities. These two events mark the beginning of a 30 year period known as the troubles, mainly in Northern Ireland but at times in the Republic and mainland Britain also. It was also around this time that the IRA (which had been largely dormant since the 1920s) resurfaced along with other paramilitary organisations on both sides - leading to riots, killings, bombings and other terrorist activities by both sides.

The Troubles largely ended with the signing of the Belfast Agreement (aka Good Friday Agreement, Stormont Agreement) in 1998 although small-scale violence still continues to this day. The Belfast Agreement is a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the British and Irish governments as well as the leaders of the Northern Ireland political parties and endorsed by a referendum of the voters of Northern Ireland and by a vote of the people of the Republic of Ireland (the later was a vote to change the Republic of Ireland's constitution to reflect the Belfast Agreement). The Belfast Agreement was wide-ranging but included provision to reform the police service of Northern Ireland, establish a power-sharing executive form of government, that the political parties exclusively use political and democratic means to achieve their aims, release of political prisoners, abolishment of the Republic's claim to Northern Ireland and repeal of the Government Act 1920 by the British Government.

So Wales operates under the same Parliament as England (ie-same govt, not two different types) when concerning more than local matters? Im assuming the Welsh assembly has limited power when it comes to national matters?

You are correct on both counts.

Military wise, Each country has a seperate Armed Forces (navy, army, air force, marines? i know england is royal everything what is scotland etc.)

Nope. The British Armed Forces of the United Kingdom comprise:
* Royal Navy (comprising also the Royal Marines)
* British Army (comprising also the Territorial Army)
* Royal Air Force

It is the British Army rather than the Royal Army as it is the Army of Parliament, not the Army of the Crown. The Bill of Rights 1689 requires Parliament to keep a standing army at peacetime.

however now [Scotland] are sorta under british law?

Yes. Until recently, all of Scotland's affairs were decided in London. As mentioned above, the Crowns of Scotland and England were merged in 1707. Like with Ireland, plans for a devolved Government were suggested in 1914 but were put on hold at the outbreak of WWI. Following a referendum of the Scottish people in 1997, the Scottish Parliament was established in 1999, transferring powers from London. Technically, London still has supreme legislature over Scotland but agrees to devolve powers to the Scottish parliament. The Scottish parliament has control over a number of issues including education, health, agriculture, justice and also limited tax-varying powers. London retains some control over domestic policy as well as foreign policy, security/intelligence, the armed forces and so on.

[yellowchinaman]

erm... I'm with stupid on this.
I feel I sould say something being british and all but even I dont know the answers to your questions.
I think you should just come over and experience our traditional "pub crawl" and see for your self.

[97celiman]

alright its all coming together, so just to be clear- on the military part they(all the countries) are all combined or no?

and ireland is still two seperate countries one supported by england(much like scotland) and one independent from anyone?

lot to learn- probably going to take some classes on just the uk or something back to the medieval times, or i could just play alot of medieval strategy games

[Wintersun]

alright its all coming together, so just to be clear- on the military part they(all the countries) are all combined or no?

and ireland is still two seperate countries one supported by england(much like scotland) and one independent from anyone?

lot to learn- probably going to take some classes on just the uk or something back to the medieval times, or i could just play alot of medieval strategy games

Yes
England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all form the "British Armed Forces"
(Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Royal Air Force and British Army)

Ireland is a seperate island from Great Britain, but the northern part of Ireland "Northen Ireland (NI)" is part of the "United Kingdom"
Where as the southern part of Ireland is republic, not part of the "United Kingdom"

Think thats correct hope so!

This post has been edited by Wintersun: Jan 31, 2009 - 12:59 PM

[97celiman]

havent checked this thread in awhile-been busy

What type of government does SI operate under? is it a parliamentary system like UK just not under UK authority? are there huge differences between northern and southern irishmen/women? as in different ideals etc. or is it just like here where its regional-ized into different types of people? ex. new yorker vs. texan vs. californian that sort of thing.

or is the only difference between NI and SI the govt...does southern ireland not like UK or are many southern irishpeoples trying to get to NI that sort of thing

[easternpiro1]

im glad somebody made this thread! i didnt know alot of this! i plan on going too! can i pay somebody $100 to let me crash on the couch?

sorry to thread jack

[plasticgeordie20...]

Southern Ireland is a totally independent country with a fully elected government.

There is an agreement between Ireland and the UK meaning that citizens of each country can move to an fro (Including working) withou the need for a visa. But that is irrelevant now as under recent EU laws this is ow possible for any EU Country

[BloodyStupidDave...]

are there huge differences between northern and southern irishmen/women? as in different ideals etc. or is it just like here where its regional-ized into different types of people?

Generally there aren't huge differences. The accent between NI and the southern part of ROI is pretty different but each county has variances too. Of course, there are some differences in world outlook between protestants who are mainly in NI and Catholics who are mainly in ROI - mainly religious but to a lesser extent, regarding royalty, national identity, politics and so on. But like everything, these are sweeping generalisations.

It is also true to say that some in NI think that NI should be fully integrated with the UK and some in ROI think that NI should be fully integrated with ROI to form an Irish nation that is the whole of Ireland. But you will also find some who have to opposing view and some who think that NI should become independent of bot the UK and ROI and enter Europe as its own nation.

But like yellowchinaman said, while it is interesting (indeed great) to learn about and be informed about the history of nations, it doesn't really tell you very much about the country or its people today. The best way is just to come over and experience it for yourself. While many of the cities are welcoming, for true impression of a country (I think this applies to pretty much any country) it is best to have a guide, visit many different areas and meet lots of people. Visiting the villages and the towns probably gives a more diverse impression of a country. Which ever nations you choose to visit, I think you'll have a great time.