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Frequently asked questions
A1: Reliable sources support the view that the United Kingdom is a single country. This view is shared with other major reputable encyclopedias. There has been a long-standing consensus to describe the UK in this way.
A2: See the article entitled " Terminology of the British Isles". Great Britain is the name of the largest island that the UK encompasses, and is not generally used in source material as the name of the country. Indeed, Britain 2001, the "official reference book" of the United Kingdom produced by the Office for National Statistics for "British diplomatic posts" says in its foreword:
This view is reiterated by the Prime Minister's Office, which states:
A report submitted to the United Nations Economic and Social Council by the Permanent Committe on Geographical Names and the Ordnance Survey states:
There has been a long-standing consensus not to include Great Britain in the lead as an interchangable name of the state.
A2b: Whether Britain should be listed as an alternative name in the lead has been discussed often, most extensively in August 2007 and April 2011; and whether the alternate name Britain should be qualified with "incorrect" in June 2006, with "informally" in September 2006, or with "mistakenly" in January 2011.
A3: This is one of the most common questions raised on this talk page, but consistently, consensus goes against taking that approach. No major reputable source describes the UK in this way. However the history of the formation of the United Kingdom, supported by source material, highlights that England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are "countries within a country". Please also refer to Q4.
A4: This is the most frequent question raised by visitors to this talk page, and the issue which generates the most debate. However, as a result of a lack of a formal British constitution, and owing to a convoluted history of the formation of the United Kingdom, a variety of terms exist which are used to refer to England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Reliable and official sources support use of the word "countries":
On Wikipedia, the term has broadly won preference amongst the editing community (note, however, that a country is not the same as a sovereign state). Also commonplace is the phrase "constituent country, or countries", when referring to the countries as elements of the UK. This phrase, however, is not an actual term; ie Scotland is not a 'constituent country' in itself, but is one of the constituent countries of the UK. The community endeavours to achieve an atmosphere of neutrality and (for the sake of stability) compromise on the various UK naming issues. See also Countries of the United Kingdom for more details about the terms that have been used to describe England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.
A5: Widespread confusion surrounds the use of the word " nation". In standard British English, and in academic language, a nation is a social group of two or more people, and not a division of land. This is also the approach taken in the nation article, and across Wikipedia (for example, the English people and the Québécois are described as "nations", reflecting real world practice). The term Home Nations is generally used only in sporting contexts. It is not used in any major reputable sources outside of sport, and is not the approach taken by any other encyclopedia.
A6: This view is supported by some sources, but the current consensus amongst the editing community is aligned to a greater body of work which describes both Northern Ireland and Wales as countries. However, the terms are not all mutually exclusive: a country can also be a principality or a province, and these terms are mentioned throughout Wikipedia as alternative names in afternotes.
A7: Northern Ireland has not had its own unique, government sanctioned flag since its government was prorogued in 1972, and abolished in 1973 under the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973. During official events, the British government uses the Union Flag — the flag of the United Kingdom — and this is the only flag used by the government in Northern Ireland. The consensus is to reflect this in the article with a note.
A8: Again, Wikipedia editors often disagree on the acceptability and suitability of various terms and phrases. This term is not favoured by a number of Wikipedia editors, and is currently not used in the introduction both to simplify the status quo, and also to discourage edit warring. |
This article is written in British English, which has its own spelling conventions (colour, travelled, centre, defence, artefact, analyse) and some terms that are used in it may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus. |
United Kingdom was one of the Geography and places good articles, but it has been removed from the list. There are suggestions below for improving the article to meet the good article criteria. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request. |
In the phrase: "Other major cities include Birmingham, Liverpool, Nottingham, Sheffield, Bristol, Glasgow and Leicester." I would definitely include Manchester. You may argue whether Manchester or Birmingham should be regarded the UK's second city, but for example: Manchester Airport is the busiest UK airport outside London 89.242.197.200 ( talk) 17:21, 21 April 2024 (UTC)
"The Bank of England is the UK's central bank and is responsible for issuing notes and coins in the pound sterling." BoE are responsible for issuing notes, The Royal Mint is responsible for issuing coins. 92.237.50.201 ( talk) 21:07, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
This
edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request. |
Please update the percentages in the infobox relating to the population's racial composition according to the latest census data as seen in the infobox for Demographics of the United Kingdom.
According to the 2021 British Census, (now that Scotland has finally released its racial data), the racial composition of the U.K.'s population is as follows.
Star VV Cephei A ( talk) 22:18, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
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Motto: "Dieu et mon droit" (French) "God and my right" Depotadore ( talk) 06:38, 28 May 2024 (UTC)
This
edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request. |
Can we replace the Brexit protest image under 21st century with this image of Queen Elizabeth II's Funeral and Procession, considering it's the UK's biggest moment in the 21st century (so far) and likely will be for a number of decades. Open to hear your views. 2A0A:EF40:E0D:1D01:4971:1631:57B8:4CC0 ( talk) 23:39, 3 June 2024 (UTC)
References
You should probably clarify that the UK is not a country but a union. It is made up of 4 countries. The UK and Britain are not the same things either. The UK includes NI. Britain is the mainland island of Scotland, Wales and England. Please correct the mistakes in this page it looks sloppy. Bigbotnot2 ( talk) 09:16, 22 June 2024 (UTC)
The UK, or United Kingdom, or Britain, is the shorthand WP:COMMONNAME for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland just as the US, or United States, is the shorthand common name for the United States of America. Similarly we say North Korea and not Democratic People's Republic of Korea. As a native British person, if asked, I always refer to the UK, or Britain, as the country of my birth (occasionally Scotland, If say I'm supporting the football team - no laughing at my expense, please!). Even the United Nations refer to the United Kingdom and the United States by their shorthand titles. Bill Reid | ( talk) 15:15, 23 June 2024 (UTC)
The United Kingdom is referred to an “island country” on Wikipedia but if you ask people who live in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, they will disagree with this statement. 2604:3D08:1E7E:CAC0:7D3B:15C7:241E:2595 ( talk) 16:10, 30 June 2024 (UTC)
The two worst leaders in the nations history should be mentioned. Their reigns and stuff like Liz being the shortest reigning PM should be added. Framdon ( talk) 18:07, 30 June 2024 (UTC)
As delighted as I am about today’s landslide result, Keir Starmer is not yet Prime Minister (as listed on this page) as he has not yet received his commission from the King. Rishi Sunak is the Prime Minister until he has. Ted86 ( talk) 05:11, 5 July 2024 (UTC)
There seems to be an edit war looming so I just want to create a general consensus on whether we use "Keir Starmer" or "Sir Keir Starmer". The former is my choice. Gammawammallama ( talk) 08:58, 6 July 2024 (UTC)
This is the
talk page for discussing improvements to the
United Kingdom article. This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject. |
Article policies
|
Find sources: Google ( books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL |
Archives: Index, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38Auto-archiving period: 60 days |
Frequently asked questions
A1: Reliable sources support the view that the United Kingdom is a single country. This view is shared with other major reputable encyclopedias. There has been a long-standing consensus to describe the UK in this way.
A2: See the article entitled " Terminology of the British Isles". Great Britain is the name of the largest island that the UK encompasses, and is not generally used in source material as the name of the country. Indeed, Britain 2001, the "official reference book" of the United Kingdom produced by the Office for National Statistics for "British diplomatic posts" says in its foreword:
This view is reiterated by the Prime Minister's Office, which states:
A report submitted to the United Nations Economic and Social Council by the Permanent Committe on Geographical Names and the Ordnance Survey states:
There has been a long-standing consensus not to include Great Britain in the lead as an interchangable name of the state.
A2b: Whether Britain should be listed as an alternative name in the lead has been discussed often, most extensively in August 2007 and April 2011; and whether the alternate name Britain should be qualified with "incorrect" in June 2006, with "informally" in September 2006, or with "mistakenly" in January 2011.
A3: This is one of the most common questions raised on this talk page, but consistently, consensus goes against taking that approach. No major reputable source describes the UK in this way. However the history of the formation of the United Kingdom, supported by source material, highlights that England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are "countries within a country". Please also refer to Q4.
A4: This is the most frequent question raised by visitors to this talk page, and the issue which generates the most debate. However, as a result of a lack of a formal British constitution, and owing to a convoluted history of the formation of the United Kingdom, a variety of terms exist which are used to refer to England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Reliable and official sources support use of the word "countries":
On Wikipedia, the term has broadly won preference amongst the editing community (note, however, that a country is not the same as a sovereign state). Also commonplace is the phrase "constituent country, or countries", when referring to the countries as elements of the UK. This phrase, however, is not an actual term; ie Scotland is not a 'constituent country' in itself, but is one of the constituent countries of the UK. The community endeavours to achieve an atmosphere of neutrality and (for the sake of stability) compromise on the various UK naming issues. See also Countries of the United Kingdom for more details about the terms that have been used to describe England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.
A5: Widespread confusion surrounds the use of the word " nation". In standard British English, and in academic language, a nation is a social group of two or more people, and not a division of land. This is also the approach taken in the nation article, and across Wikipedia (for example, the English people and the Québécois are described as "nations", reflecting real world practice). The term Home Nations is generally used only in sporting contexts. It is not used in any major reputable sources outside of sport, and is not the approach taken by any other encyclopedia.
A6: This view is supported by some sources, but the current consensus amongst the editing community is aligned to a greater body of work which describes both Northern Ireland and Wales as countries. However, the terms are not all mutually exclusive: a country can also be a principality or a province, and these terms are mentioned throughout Wikipedia as alternative names in afternotes.
A7: Northern Ireland has not had its own unique, government sanctioned flag since its government was prorogued in 1972, and abolished in 1973 under the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973. During official events, the British government uses the Union Flag — the flag of the United Kingdom — and this is the only flag used by the government in Northern Ireland. The consensus is to reflect this in the article with a note.
A8: Again, Wikipedia editors often disagree on the acceptability and suitability of various terms and phrases. This term is not favoured by a number of Wikipedia editors, and is currently not used in the introduction both to simplify the status quo, and also to discourage edit warring. |
This article is written in British English, which has its own spelling conventions (colour, travelled, centre, defence, artefact, analyse) and some terms that are used in it may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus. |
United Kingdom was one of the Geography and places good articles, but it has been removed from the list. There are suggestions below for improving the article to meet the good article criteria. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
This
level-3 vital article is rated B-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to multiple WikiProjects. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
This article has been
mentioned by a media organization:
|
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This page has archives. |
This
edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request. |
In the phrase: "Other major cities include Birmingham, Liverpool, Nottingham, Sheffield, Bristol, Glasgow and Leicester." I would definitely include Manchester. You may argue whether Manchester or Birmingham should be regarded the UK's second city, but for example: Manchester Airport is the busiest UK airport outside London 89.242.197.200 ( talk) 17:21, 21 April 2024 (UTC)
"The Bank of England is the UK's central bank and is responsible for issuing notes and coins in the pound sterling." BoE are responsible for issuing notes, The Royal Mint is responsible for issuing coins. 92.237.50.201 ( talk) 21:07, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
This
edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request. |
Please update the percentages in the infobox relating to the population's racial composition according to the latest census data as seen in the infobox for Demographics of the United Kingdom.
According to the 2021 British Census, (now that Scotland has finally released its racial data), the racial composition of the U.K.'s population is as follows.
Star VV Cephei A ( talk) 22:18, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
This
edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request. |
Motto: "Dieu et mon droit" (French) "God and my right" Depotadore ( talk) 06:38, 28 May 2024 (UTC)
This
edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request. |
Can we replace the Brexit protest image under 21st century with this image of Queen Elizabeth II's Funeral and Procession, considering it's the UK's biggest moment in the 21st century (so far) and likely will be for a number of decades. Open to hear your views. 2A0A:EF40:E0D:1D01:4971:1631:57B8:4CC0 ( talk) 23:39, 3 June 2024 (UTC)
References
You should probably clarify that the UK is not a country but a union. It is made up of 4 countries. The UK and Britain are not the same things either. The UK includes NI. Britain is the mainland island of Scotland, Wales and England. Please correct the mistakes in this page it looks sloppy. Bigbotnot2 ( talk) 09:16, 22 June 2024 (UTC)
The UK, or United Kingdom, or Britain, is the shorthand WP:COMMONNAME for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland just as the US, or United States, is the shorthand common name for the United States of America. Similarly we say North Korea and not Democratic People's Republic of Korea. As a native British person, if asked, I always refer to the UK, or Britain, as the country of my birth (occasionally Scotland, If say I'm supporting the football team - no laughing at my expense, please!). Even the United Nations refer to the United Kingdom and the United States by their shorthand titles. Bill Reid | ( talk) 15:15, 23 June 2024 (UTC)
The United Kingdom is referred to an “island country” on Wikipedia but if you ask people who live in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, they will disagree with this statement. 2604:3D08:1E7E:CAC0:7D3B:15C7:241E:2595 ( talk) 16:10, 30 June 2024 (UTC)
The two worst leaders in the nations history should be mentioned. Their reigns and stuff like Liz being the shortest reigning PM should be added. Framdon ( talk) 18:07, 30 June 2024 (UTC)
As delighted as I am about today’s landslide result, Keir Starmer is not yet Prime Minister (as listed on this page) as he has not yet received his commission from the King. Rishi Sunak is the Prime Minister until he has. Ted86 ( talk) 05:11, 5 July 2024 (UTC)
There seems to be an edit war looming so I just want to create a general consensus on whether we use "Keir Starmer" or "Sir Keir Starmer". The former is my choice. Gammawammallama ( talk) 08:58, 6 July 2024 (UTC)