British Counties?

[Mesoland]

They basically are. We have three states, basically, England and Wales (Wales not really being a real country), Scotland, and Northern Ireland. There are counties with basically no power, and "Unitary Authorities" or "Stategic Land Boroughs" or "Mid-Sized Territory Units" etc. for when governments want to look like they're decentralising power (in short they get about a tenner to spend on an 'Enterprise zone' or some bollocks, it's hailed as a success and then ignored or scrapped quietly soon after).

I would love to see the US try to get that decentralized, if only to see what ridiculous names they come up with for the new areas.

They'd all probably be- New London, New Guernsey, New Scotland etc. OR Jefferson, Lincoln, Eisenhower, Kennedy etc. Everything in America seems to be named after something else.

[Yootwopia]

Correct. Except Scotland is angling to leave the UK, now that the SNP are in charge of the assembly.

They can do that?

Nobody really knows. The legality of the thing aside (which is a bit dubious, no doubt The Archregimancy will turn up with about 90 pages of precedent on the matter to sort this out, mind), not that many people are convinced about its viability as a state. Yes there's a bit of oil and gas left, but the SNP wants a joint UK military, the Queen as a head of state, and other things that make Scottish Independence seem more like a bit more leeway from the treasury.

Didn't the IRA have to fight a war to get a chunk of Ireland to split off?

Ireland was actually not run by the UK itself at the start of that conflict, and Northern Ireland wasn't directly ruled from the UK until the seventies.

[Mesoland]

Yep, one of the SNP's goals is apparently to dump the UK and become independent. I don't see it myself, but if it's what they want.
And don't ask me about the IRA. I have no idea why Ireland split up.

How prepared are they to be independent?

Not very. Yet. Alex Salmond is gonna work towards it, though. They've already got their own assembly (parliament) and such, so it's just a matter of time before they go. Apparently so.

[Krumbia]

I currently do, and have always lived in North Yorkshire. I feel a sort of rivalry between the other counties, and I have often joked that Yorkshire should become a seperate county. I'm only in secondary school though.

[Yootwopia]

Lul Lancashite. Yorkshire is so much better.

Wasn't this settled in 1485?

HERP DERP away, peasants.

[Yootwopia]

They've already got their own assembly (parliament) and such.

Yeah but it's entirely predicated on Westminster going along with it.

[Mesoland]

They've already got their own assembly (parliament) and such.

Yeah but it's entirely predicated on Westminster going along with it.

The only difference is that the Scottish take 3 times longer than England and Wales do to make a decision to make themselves feel special

[Krumbia]

Lul Lancashite. Yorkshire is so much better.

Wasn't this settled in 1485?

Obviously not.

[Mesoland]

Wasn't this settled in 1485?

Obviously not.

We don't have any of this nonsense in the South-west.
*glares at Cornishman peeking across the Tamar* "GET OFF MOI LAND DIRTY BUGGER!"

[Urumgard]

Have you contacted the UN to get refugee status to move somewhere else?

do I look like I want to live in Leicester?

Watch it!

[Mesoland]

-SNIP-

[Krumbia]

You guys have too many states. Please get rid of three so we don't have to try and remember them.

Counties. Not states. Anyway, America have more. I think.

[Jakaragua]

I always say I'm from Lancashire, not "Greater Manchester" or whatever.

[EvilDarkMagicians]

From London, sometimes I say Croydon but...meh.

[The Archregimancy]

They can do that?

Nobody really knows. The legality of the thing aside (which is a bit dubious, no doubt The Archregimancy will turn up with about 90 pages of precedent on the matter to sort this out, mind), not that many people are convinced about its viability as a state. Yes there's a bit of oil and gas left, but the SNP wants a joint UK military, the Queen as a head of state, and other things that make Scottish Independence seem more like a bit more leeway from the treasury.

You actually need Nadkor rather than myself - she's a constitutional law student (now graduated? Can't remember), whereas I'm merely an archaeology lecturer.

But in terms of the Queen as shared head of state, there's no reasonable constitutional objection since the Queen is already shared with 15 other Commonwealth Realms. In historical precedents, England and Scotland shared a monarch while remaining separate states between 1603 and 1707. I imagine a significant portion of the SNP committed core vote are republicans in spirit, and keeping the monarchy is designed to avoid scaring off soft nationalists.

I would like to see a source over the joint military, but if true then Salmond should be told to take a flying leap on that point.

As to the constitutionality of Scottish independence generally, it would, I think, merely require the repeal of those clauses of the 1707 Act of Union that are still in force. Should the June 2014 referendum* pass, I imagine we'd see something along the lines of "2014 Act to Repeal the 1707 Act of Union between England and Scotland".

The only tricky decision at that point becomes deciding what to do with Northern Ireland, since Ireland was joined to Great Britain to form the UK in 1801, meaning that Northern Ireland - I think (though Nadkor would be better able to clarify here) - is constitutionally part of the British state rather than England or Scotland. The hypothetical 2014 Act of Repeal would have to deal with this explicitly. This contrasts to Wales, which was united to England specifically - rather than Britain - in the 16th century, and would therefore not need any special provision in an Act of Repeal.

*No, the date hasn't been officially announced, but it doesn't take a political genius to work out that Salmond will hold the referendum as close as possible to the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn: the 23rd and 24th of June 2014.

[Khytenna]

Bedfordshire here

[Coccygia]

Nobody does, except people who are from Lincolnshire and want to carve an identity out of their scrap of England whose only useful product is mashed up snouts and arseholes with a tasty blend of herbs.

Mmm, mashed snouts and arseholes.... *drools*

Classic English cuisine. Of course in America we say "lips 'n' ass".

[Nationstatelandsville]

I had a vague knowledge of this.

Crazy UK, with your insane little organization. It's worse then your tea fetish.

I'm kidding of course. But, it is weird for an American, and certainly confusing.

[Calofas]

A proud Weagie (City of Glasgow)

[Tagmatium]

Brizzle.

[Alyakia]

I identify with Warwickshire as my county, not 'West Midlands', a bizarre 1970s creation that applied a broad geographic term for a large part of England to a small conurbation.

Here's a map of the traditional British counties (which generally have medieval origins), before the map was revolutionised under Ted Heath, for reasons best known to him and his government.

shire shire shire -shire shire -shire

what the fuck is this english bullshit

[Alyakia]

Ireland was actually not run by the UK itself at the start of that conflict, and Northern Ireland wasn't directly ruled from the UK until the seventies.

So, uh, who was running Ireland when the partition happened?

[Trixiestan]

I identify with Warwickshire as my county, not 'West Midlands', a bizarre 1970s creation that applied a broad geographic term for a large part of England to a small conurbation.

Here's a map of the traditional British counties (which generally have medieval origins), before the map was revolutionised under Ted Heath, for reasons best known to him and his government.

shire shire shire -shire shire -shire

what the fuck is this english bullshit

It's hardly "English Bullshit" when the majority of Scottish counties seem to have -shire in their name as well. :v

[Tagmatium]

shire shire shire -shire shire -shire

what the fuck is this english bullshit

Before you make yourself look completely ignorant, how about looking it up?

[Risottia]

The United States is actually somewhat like the UN.

Definitely not. The UN isn't a nation: it's a diplomatic organization made up by different nations. The US is a nation, made up by different states. Just like the UK is made of constituent countries.

State actually can mean nation.

No.
And State doesn't even mean "country".
There was a single German nation and a single Italian nation BEFORE there was a united Germany or a united Italy.