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There's a huge push in the UK not to use GB abbreviation unless necessary, because it excludes Northern Ireland. Similarly, since last year international car p
by przemub 4y ago
There's a huge push in the UK not to use GB abbreviation unless necessary, because it excludes Northern Ireland.
Similarly, since last year international car plates bear UK sign, not GB as it had been for a hundred years before.
- markdown 4y agoWhat's with GB at the Olympics though?
- walthamstow 4y ago~Each island competes as one.~ Edit - oops incorrect.
- Leherenn 4y agoThey don't at the Olympics.
- another-dave 4y ago> Each island competes as one. I don't think that's technically correct. Anyone in NI has Irish citizenship (who wants it), so any NI athlete can represent Ireland. "Team GB" is the official team of the whole of the UK though, including Northern Ireland.
- rocketbop 4y agoYou are correct, the official name of the team is `Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic Team`
- argentier 4y agoFor the Olympics you are incorrect but it varies. Rugby - one team for the island Soccer - one federation for each polity on the island, but Derry City plays in the League of Ireland (Republic of Ireland). Two international teams. Cricket - one team for the island Etc etc. There is some tiresome hand-wringing every time an athlete has decide on their allegiance. Basically, Ireland is a political Mandelbrot set.
- benwad 4y agoWeirdly, NI Olympic athletes can choose to compete for either Ireland or the UK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_GB#Calls_for_renaming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_GB#Calls_for_renaming
- another-dave 4y agoI think Northern Ireland is unique in that regard, where every person holds (or at least, is entitled to) dual citizenship from birth.
- OJFord 4y agoI guess HKers are kind of simultaneously Chinese and not Chinese until they get old enough to form an opinion. And I'm not sure if they actually have 'dual citizenship from birth', but South Korea has an open door policy to North Korean.. immigrants/refugees.
- justahuman74 4y agoI think one of the parents of the child has to be a UK or Ireland citizen. For example, German parents resident in and having a child in Northern Ireland, the child is only a UK citizen (and perhaps German? I don't know that part of it)
- noodlesUK 4y agoUK nationality law is exceptionally complex (probably the most complex in the world). Irish nationality law is less complex but inherited a lot of warts from the UK In general if you’re born in NI and your parents are settled (that is they have permanent residency or are EU citizens with derived status) or are UK/IE citizens you are both British and Irish.
- wiredfool 4y agoIf one of your parents is NI born, it entitles you to have both UK (by descent) and Irish (by Good Friday) citizenship. Couple this with being born in the US, and my kids have 3 citizenships from birth.
- Leherenn 4y agoThe reasoning is that UK is still not actually correct (though more correct) because the Olympic committee also oversees places like the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and so on which are not technically part of the UK. Then it seems they keep it because of tradition and because the country code is GBR.
- IanCal 4y agoThat's contentious. Technically the full name is the "Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic Team". Broadly the answer is "branding" and there isn't a strong enough push to change it.
- dontlaugh 4y agoThat is indeed the reasoning. Of course, those of us that don't think Northern Ireland should continue to be colonised would like GB used everywhere.
- _dain_ 4y ago
- rocketbop 4y agoThe Ulster Plantations were 400 years ago, calling it a colony now is beyond a stretch and sounds childish.
- dontlaugh 4y agoBritish police and military were killing Irish people in the north around 30 years ago. The north is still under British occupation. When that ends and the island is re-unified, we can start saying that colonisation is being addressed.
- bearmode 4y ago>When that ends and the island is re-unified Why are you trying to force 2 million people to live in a country that most of them explicitly don't want to?
- robin_reala 4y agoReunification will happen when the majority of them do want to, and that’s probably not that far away given the chart at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Ireland#Northern_Ireland_opinion_polling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Ireland#Northern_Irelan...
- bearmode 4y agoAnd that's absolutely fine, I'll cheer them on in the reunification process when that time comes. But at the moment they don't, and it's silly to suggest that it's still a colony until then.
- cstross 4y agoIt's worth noting that "Great Britain" is very specifically the name of a geographical land mass -- an island off the coast of Europe that currently includes England, Wales, and Scotland. In political terms it doesn't include NI ... or the Isle of Man, the Isle of Wight, and the Channel Islands. (Also, in event of Scottish independence, using "GB" for the nationality would cause confusion because post-independence there'd be two separate nations on the GB land mass. See also [minor] confusion over "Ireland".)
- mprev 4y agoSorry to be picky, but the Isle of Man and Channels Islands aren't part of the UK either. Politically, IoW is part of England and so GB, albeit geographically a separate island.
- crazygringo 4y agoJesus christ, just when I thought I understood what all the convoluted UK/GB/etc names meant, now I discover I need to add "Crown Dependencies" to the list? That turn out to be neither part of the UK nor British Overseas Territories? I swear they're just messing with us. Who comes up with these things...
- whatatita 4y agoThe always relevant CGP Grey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNu8XDBSn10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNu8XDBSn10 Skip to 5:00 for a beautiful diagram outlining the mess.
- russellbeattie 4y agoI assumed this link would have been one of the top comments! All the other links in this thread combined don't shed light on the topic nearly as well as CGP Grey's video.
- donalhunt 4y agoProbably explains the lack of a constitution too. No one dares to try and document it!
- nlnn 4y agoIndeed - there are a couple of good diagrams that attempt to illustrate what each term encompasses, e.g.: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/British_Isles_Venn_Diagram-en.svg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/British_...
- ClumsyPilot 4y agoI find it annoying that any time you prepare for the test or read official textbook, such diagrams are never provided. Its alsways dome super spesific textual information
- midasuni 4y agoWhy are England and Wales in once circular but Scotland isn’t?
- selectodude 4y agoEngland and Wales share a legal system that is distinct from the one in Scotland and NI, which is the only thing I could think would explain that. Wales didn’t have its own parliament until 1998 and was entirely governed by London.
- arethuza 4y agoWasn't Wales annexed by force into England while Scotland joined with England as an act of desperation following an amazingly incompetent attempt at setting up a colony?
- iso1631 4y agoWell there were two joinings. In the first one the Scottish King (James VI) took over the English throne after Elizabeth I died. King James then began to try to create a unified state, merging first the churches. Of course there was then that little Cromwell bustup, but after that James VII of Scotland was on the throne and causing religious grief, his daughter and her Dutch husband then took over.
- AlecSchueler 4y agoAs someone from Northern Ireland who is often frustrated by British companies who don't ship to or provide services to this side of the sea, I think having this clearly indicated by a .gb TLD would be great.
- bombcar 4y agoThis is like "free shipping to the US" and then you learn that they mean contiguous US and Alaska and Hawaii are not included.
- adra 4y agoAlaska is continental but not continuous. Just imagine living in Porto Rico or any of the other random us protectorates that have no legal voting authority.
- rpastuszak 4y ago*contiguous not continuous (not the same thing, could just mean "sharing a common border") *Puerto Rico not Porto Rico
- blackshaw 4y agoBritish companies often charge extra to ship to the "Highlands and Islands", meaning northern Scotland (one of the most sparsely populated areas in Europe.)
- GauntletWizard 4y agoI am surprised by this; Does the Royal Mail charge more? Like, significantly so? USPS charges more for shipping cross-country, certainly, but I consider their rates[1] pretty fair for the distance involved. [1] https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/Notice123.htm#_c052 https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/Notice123.htm#_c052 - For clarity, Zone 7 is cross-country for the most part, Zone 8 is mostly "Non-contiguous" (Alaska and Hawaii), and zone 9 is "Foreign but US Sovereignty" (Military bases, Embassies, Minor Outlying Islands). The maximum zone by distance in the UK would be Zone 4 - (Almost) All points within the British Isles are < 600 miles from each other.
- pjc50 4y agoThis is essentially down to the mainland forgetting that Northern Ireland existed until Brexit forced the NI border issue to prominence, isn't it? The UK is to a great extent a set of special cases that have accreted from the feudal era. No wonder we invented Mornington Crescent. All of the compatibility issues and awkwardnesses that derive from this get glossed over as much as possible, but are starting to force their way to the surface as the power and competence vaccuum in the center loses its grip.
- pestatije 4y agoWhat should be the correct demonym? ...Ukeyish?
- Veen 4y agoConfusingly, it's British.
- oneeyedpigeon 4y agoThat would upset an awful lot of people living in Northern Ireland, though. I'd be up for adopting "United Kingdomer".
- chrisseaton 4y agoThe unionists there already describe themselves as British. The republicans don't but they wouldn't want to be UKish either, obviously.
- 323 4y agoCurrency should be changed too then from GBP to UKP.
- donalhunt 4y agoSterling (aka the GBP) is used outside the UK. The United Kingdom also allows some regions to issue bank notes that are considered currency but not legal tender (i.e. then can be refused for payment of a debt in favour of currency issued by the Bank of England). See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknotes_of_the_pound_sterling https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknotes_of_the_pound_sterl...
- brnt 4y agoAlways wondered why British car plates say GB instead of UK. Or indeed, why we say "British", and not "UK-ians". What do Northern Irish plates say?