Why is the United Kingdom United?

[nigel]

As someone living in the Republic of Ireland I always find it strange that the UK still exists. I mean, as far as I can figure out the Welsh hate the English. The English dont seem to like the welsh. As for the scots and the english? Come on, dont even go there. And, when it comes to Northern Ireland, the scots, welsh and english seem to be united in their disdain for the place.

The only two who seem to get along are the Irish and the English and we left the UK years ago. (OK we do like to see the english football team being beaten ). And this is despite 800 years of english occupation and all the fairly IRA recent bombings in Britain. What goes?

Can you explain it to me? Also how come the Royal Family is still in power when all Iread here is negative about them. And that seems to be shared equally between English, Welsh and Scots!

[curtinparloe]

Actually, you'll find that most people don't give a monkeys provided that they can carry on living their mundane lives. It's all media representation. There is a huge misconception that we all hate each other. Some do, it's true. I had a conversation with a Scot a year ago where he promised to "make the IRA look like rank amateurs", and that "the streets of england will run red before the month is out" (what a toss face), but none of my scottish, welsh, northern irish, or ROI friends wanted anything to do with the wacko!
As for the Royal family, it's the most expensive reality TV show ever devised...

[rjschwarz]

The Welsh, Scotts and North Irish get a lot more government benefits than the amount of tax revenue they put into the system. They get a good payout and many don't think it's worth changing for some outdated nationalism.

Why the Brits put up with paying extra money to keep Whales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in the Union is beyond me although those nations produce some superb troops that have helped make the UK military number two in the world (oddly enough it's the Scots/Irish that settled the US South that produces the bulk of superb troops in the number one military in the world).

[rjschwarz]

I have also wondered what would happen if the members of the UK joined the EU as seperate member countries. Why should the Welsh (or English/Scots/Isle of Mann) pay taxes to both London and Brussels? They'll be defended the same either way and might have more say with more direct representation.

[MarkG]

IMOH it's all about money. The south-east of England and the oil-processing parts of Scotland pretty much fund the rest of the country... the government basically buys off everyone else with our taxes.

Frankly, I think we'd all be better off if the UK split into much smaller parts (e.g. south-east, south-west, north england, scotland, wales, northern ireland), but the government want to hold it together and the parts which want to split off don't really have an incentive to do so while the money keeps coming.

Equally, though, I think the same about the EU and America: such large groupings of people just make little sense these days.

[raimifan]

When A country is together and you no not get along, we often in Latvia have wars with the other people. I dont think this is always a good thing, becuase sometimes after it is more expensive to buy petrol and food. If you don't be friends, you should try to, buy them some alcohol-you no what i am saying men on the web!

[rjschwarz]

Tradition and history are pretty powerful forces. California can't even decide to split into two states despite all of the advantages of doing so (an extra 2 Senators in the US Senate, less diluted representation at the State level). And that's staying within the same country, just becoming seperate states.

But consider what happens if a state leaves a country. Say Scotland (I can trace my great-grandfather to the Macdonald clan on the Isle of Skye) went truly independent. They've got Northsea Oil in their territorial waters but the companies pumping that oil are based out of London. You get a fight over that. If Scotland nationalizes the oil they will lose all foreign investment and a lot of tourism and are likely to face the bitter end of trade discussions. If they don't nationalize the London based banks and stockholders will own the oil and Scotland gets little so they can't afford their welfare state.

Now Scotland can join the EU as a member state but that means they have to create a level of bureacracy they previously didn't have to pay for. Another drain. they also lose the seat on the Security Council which should be a matter of pride. The UK earned that seat through the hard work of all members but nobody really doubts London would keep the seat if the UK dissolved. There is no chance Scotland would get a second seat.

Okay, now Scotland has to worry about exports to the world. The most painful will be into North America (haggis isn't selling well in the states these days). The special arrangement has been particularly helpful in this matter but does it continue for Scotland? Especially after a bitter split up with England. The US has some pretty large sour mash whiskey distillers ourselves and so does Canada, and Scotland will now be competing head to head with the Irish Whisky (and Scandanavian and Russian, Vodkas) now and no doubt the English are gonna try to ram Gin down the North American throat, no longer held back by worries of competing too strongly against a fellow member of the UK. Needless to say the WTO will try to help Scotland but by the time the dust settles the sale of Scotch is likely to fall.

I don't think Scottish ales will stand a chance against Guinness and Irish imports. All Scottland has left is tourism and that might have failed if the fight over the oil fields went bad.

All in all there are a lot of questions to answer and some of those answers can be very painful. That is why modern nations take their time before splitting up.