United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is a political union of the countries of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Its formal title is "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". It is often referred to as "Britain", including by the government. Its principal language is English, but the Welsh language is also officially recognised, and is spoken in parts of Wales. Its citizens are called Britons (or, informally, "Brits"), and their nationality is referred to as "British". It is located off the northwestern coast of Europe, and it is geographically and politically a part of Europe. It is a member of the British Commonwealth, the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and is a founder member of the United Nations with a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

History

The British people have acquired a genetic inheritance from immigrants including Celts, Romans, Saxons, Danes, Normans, and many others. An early cultural inheritance came from the Celts of central Europe and a further contribution came when missionaries established monasteries in the British Isles. Little cultural progress was made during the five centuries of Anglo-Saxon rule in England, however, and the technological knowledge that was lost when the Romans left was only slowly regained. Intellectual thought was dominated for several centuries by a religious establishment concerned mainly with the preservation of orthodoxy, and it was not until the Renaissance that inductive modes of reasoning became acceptable. The British constitutional inheritance has been the outcome of an intermittent progression from an unruly conglomeration of uncoordinated kingships into an orderly democratic nation. A transition from autocracy to constitutional monarchy happened by the transfer of power to deliberative assemblies in a succession of discrete steps that included the Magna Carta of 1215, the Bill of Rights of 1688, the Reform Act of 1867, and the Representation of the People Act of 1928. The dissolution of the rigid hierarchical structure of rights and obligations of the feudal system happened at an earlier stage in Britain than in other European countries and the resulting increase in labour mobility made possible the earlier development of the Industrial Revolution -and gave it a decisive, although temporary, economic advantage. As a result it was for a time, the world's richest and most powerful country. It acquired - and then lost - responsibility for managing the world's financial system, and for ruling an Empire of almost a quarter of the world's population, covering a larger area than any other empire in history. In the course of the 20th century, it suffered major losses of its economic resources in two world wars and it gave independence to nearly all the former members its empire, and devolved a degree of legislative independence to Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. It joined the European Union but did not adopt its common currency. It joined with the United States of America in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, and supported it in wars in Korea, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Government and politics

The Constitution

Parliamentary sovereignty is the ruling principle of the constitution of the United Kingdom. Parliament is the country's supreme legal authority, and it can create or end any law. It has from time to time passed laws that limit the application of its sovereignty, but it is not bound by those laws. nor by any other of its past decisions .

The UK parliament is bicameral, consisting of a wholly-elected House of Commons and a mainly-appointed House of Lords, of which the House of Commons is its primary legislative assembly, and the functions of the House of Lords are mainly deliberative. Once elected, the House of Commons serves for a fixed term of five years unless the government loses a vote of no confidence, and unless a new government does not receive a vote of confidence within a fortnight, or two thirds of its members vote for its dissolution.

The political head of the UK government is its Prime Minister who is a member of one of the Houses of Parliament, appointed by the Monarch on the presumption that he or she would able to command the support of a majority of the members of the House of Commons. (The appointee is expected to submit his or her resignation if he or she is unable to win the of confidence of the House of Commons). It is nowadays understood that the Prime Minister must be in the House of Commons. (Apart from a very short period in 1963, this has always been the case since 1902.) The person chosen to be Prime Minister is normally the elected leader of one of the country's political parties.

The British monarch is the country's head of state. The functions of the monarchy are mainly ceremonial, but the Sovereign, as its embodiment, has the right to advise the Prime Minister in private. The Sovereign has the personal power to resolve an otherwise intractable constitutional crisis but is bound, in all other circumstances, to give way to ministerial advice. In other respects, the royal prerogative, which includes the power to declare war, is effectively exercised by ministers. The ancient feudal functions of the monarchy continue to be reflected in constitutional and legal terminology and usage. For those purposes, the term "The Crown", refers to a legal fiction that makes the state a legal entity that can be a party to a legal transaction or a legal action.

The conduct of government

It is the Prime Minister's responsibility to select those members of the Houses of Parliament who are to become Ministers and serve as political managers of government departments, and to decide who among them are to serve in the top decision-making body known as "the Cabinet". With rare exceptions, a goverment's business is conducted in accordance with the "doctrine of collective responsibility", under which ministers are bound to defend Cabinet decisions, whether or not they agree with them. The conduct of ministers is governed by a ministerial code covering their personal conduct, the presentation of policy, and their relations with Parliament and the civil service. Ministers receive political advice from "special advisers", and impartial advice from permanent civil servants. Permanent civil servants are recruited by open competition under the supervision of an independant Commission, and their appointment does not change with changes of government; whereas special advisers are temporary civil servants who are appointed by ministers, and whose tenure ends when there is a change of government. In 2010/11 there were 68 special advisors within a total of about 440,000 civil servants. Legislation is normally initiated by government departments and piloted through the legislative process by the party Whips. Legislative proposals by a Government with a substantial majority in the House of Commons are usually enacted. Government Whips warn members who rebel against its motions that they are damaging their prospects of promotion.

Political parties

Currently, 11 parties are represented in the Commons and another in the Lords, of which the only two that have been in power alone recently are the Conservative Party and the Labour Party, but the country is currently governed by a coalition of the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. Among the others, the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru campaign for the independence of Scotland and Wales; the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) represent unionist,and Sinn Féin and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) represent nationalist interests in Northern Ireland. The Green Party and the Respect Coalition (an alliance between the Socialist Workers' Party and certain Muslim groups, originally formed to oppose the Iraq War) are repesented in the Commons. Analysts have remarked that upon the apparent lack of ideolgical differences among the three major parties, an impression that is supported by a comparison of their 2010 election manifestoes. The UK Independence Party controls a small local authority, and the British National Party is represented in the European Parliament.

The current administration

In the general election of May 2010, and for the first time since 1974, a general election did not result in an overall majority for any single party. The result was a "hung parliament", with the Conservative Party winning 305 seats, Labour 258, Liberal Democrats 57 and other parties with 28 seats.' After a series of negotiations among the three main parties, the leaders of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties announced that they had agreed to form a coalition government . Two days later, on 13th May, the coalition held its first cabinet meeting, with , the Conservative Party leader David Cameron as Prime Minister and the Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg as Deputy Prime Minister, and with Liberal Democrats holding 5 out of the 30 cabinet posts. The agreement reached on 11th May set out "the issues that needed to be resolved between us in order for us to work together as a strong and stable government". It was later followed by a final Coalition Agreement, covering the full range of policy issues .

Regional Structure

Devolution

Following devolution referendums in Scotland and Wales in 1997, and in both parts of Ireland in 1998, the United Kingdom Parliament transferred a range of powers to national parliaments or assemblies. The arrangements are different in the three parts of the country, reflecting their history and administrative structures. The Scottish Government develops and implements policy on matters that include health, education, justice, rural affairs and transport, and is accountable to the Scottish Parliament. The Welsh Assembly Government has responsibilities which include health, education, economic development, culture, the environment and transport, and is accountable to the National Assembly for Wales. The Northern Ireland Executive is responsible for economic and social matters, agriculture and rural development, culture, arts, education, health, social services and public safety, and is accountable to the Northern Ireland Assembly. The United Kingdom Parliament is still able to pass legislation for any part of the United Kingdom, though in practice it only deals with devolved matters with the agreement of the devolved governments.

Local Government

The United Kingdom is divided, for the purposes of government, into a set of further administrative subdivisions. In most of England there are two levels of local government: a county council and a district council. County councils cover large areas and provide public services that include schools, social services, and public transportation. District councils cover smaller areas and provide more local services, including council housing, gyms and leisure facilities, local planning, recycling and trash collection. In most large towns and cities, and in some small counties, there is only one level of local government responsible for all local services. In London, each borough is a unitary authority, but the Greater London Authority provides London-wide services including transport and police. In Scotland there is a unitary system with one level of local government. In Northern Ireland there are local councils, but most services are carried out by other organisations. In some parts of England and Wales there are also town and parish councils that are responsible for services like allotments, public toilets, parks and ponds, war memorials, and local halls and community centres. In Wales, they are called community councils. In Scotland there are community councils with fewer powers. There is no equivalent in Northern Ireland.

Law

The United Kingdom has three systems of law: one for England and Wales, one for Northern Ireland and one for Scotland. In England and Wales and Northern Ireland they are "common law systems", under which decisions are determined by precedent, except where precedent is overruled by legislation (as distinct from "civil law systems" under which decisions are determined exclusively by legislative enactment). Scotland has a "mixed jurisdiction system" which is a mixture of common law and civil law. Each system has a hierarchy of courts, and each permits appeal to a higher court against a decision of a lower court. In England and Wales, the court system includes the Court of Appeal, the High Court of Justice (for civil cases) and the Crown Court (for criminal cases). In Scotland, the principal courts are the Court of Session, for civil cases, and the High Court of Justiciary, for criminal cases, and the sheriff court is the Scottish equivalent of the English county court. The United Kingdom's highest court is the Supreme Court, except for Scottish criminal cases. The provisions of the European Communities Act 1972 require United Kingdom courts to apply European law, and to give it preference when it conflicts with previous parliamentary legislation. The Human Rights Act 1998 embodies the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Geography

The United Kjngdom comprises the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland, and numerous smaller islands in the surrounding seas. It is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean and its ancillary bodies of water, including the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea, and the Irish Sea. On the island of Ireland, Northern Ireland has a land border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west. There are several islands which are not part of the United Kingdom, including the Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney). They are all British Crown Dependencies, which means that they are effectively self-governing with their own legislature and tax systems: the UK remains responsible for foreign policy and in certain circumstances has legal authority superior to the parliaments.

Most of England consists of rolling lowland, divided east from west by mountains in the Northwest (Cumbrian Mountains of the Lake District) and north (the upland moors of the Pennines) and limestone hills of the Peak District by the Tees-Exe line. The lower limestone hills of the Isle of Purbeck, Cotswolds, Lincolnshire and chalk downs of the Southern England Chalk Formation. The main rivers and estuaries are the Thames, Severn and the Humber Estuary. The largest urban area is Greater London. Near Dover, the Channel Tunnel links the UK to France. The highest mountain in England is Scafell Pike in the Lake District, at 978m (3,208 ft).

Scotland's geography is varied, with lowlands in the south and east and highlands in the north and west, including Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the British Isles at 1,343m (4,406 ft). There are many long and deep-sea arms, firths, and lochs. Scotland has nearly 800 islands, mainly west and north of the mainland, notably the Hebrides, Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands. The capital city is Edinburgh, the centre of which is a World Heritage Site. The largest city is Glasgow. The UK has about 1,000 islands, with 700 in Scotland alone.

Wales (Cymru in Welsh) is mostly mountainous, the highest peak being Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) at 1,085m (3,560 ft) above sea level. North of the mainland is the island of Anglesey (Ynys Môn). The largest city, Cardiff (Caerdydd), has been the Welsh capital since 1955. The greatest concentration of people live in the south, in the cities of Swansea and Newport, as well as Cardiff, and the South Wales Valleys. The largest town in North Wales is Wrexham.

Northern Ireland, making up the north-eastern part of Ireland, is mostly hilly. The capital is Belfast ('Béal Feirste' in Irish), with other major cities being Londonderry/Derry ('Doire' in Irish) and Armagh. The province includes one of the UK’s World Heritage Sites, the Giant's Causeway, which consists of more than 40,000 hexagonal basalt columns up to 40 feet (12 m) high. Lough Neagh, the largest body of water in the British Isles (388 km² / 150 mi²), can be found in Northern Ireland. The highest peak is Slieve Donard at 849m (2,786 ft) in the Mourne Mountains.

Climate

England has a temperate climate, with plentiful rainfall all year round. The seasons are quite variable in temperature, but temperatures rarely fall below −5°C (23°F) or rise above 30°C (86°F). The prevailing wind is from the southwest, bringing mild and wet weather regularly from the Atlantic Ocean. It is driest in the east and warmest in the southeast. Snowfall can occur in Winter and early Spring, though it is uncommon away from high ground. The highest temperature recorded in England is 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) on 10 August 2003 at Brogdale, near Faversham, in Kent. [1]. The lowest temperature recorded is −26.1 °C (−15.0 °F) on 10 January 1982 at Edgmond, near Newport, in Shropshire. [2]

Wales' climate is similar, with the highest temperature recorded at 35.2°C (95.4°F) in Hawarden Bridge, Flintshire on 2 August 1990, and the lowest temperature at -23.3°C (-10°F) in Rhayader, Radnorshire on 21 January 1940. [1]

The climate of Scotland is temperate and oceanic, and tends to be very changeable. It is warmed by the Gulf Stream from the Atlantic, and is much warmer than areas on similar latitudes, for example Oslo, Norway. However, temperatures are generally lower than in the rest of the UK, with the coldest ever UK temperature of -27.2°C (-16.96°F) recorded at Braemar in the Grampian Mountains, on 11 February 1895 and 10 January 1982 and also at Altnaharra, Highland, on 30 December 1995. Winter maximums average 6°C (42.8°F) in the lowlands, with summer maximums averaging 18°C (64.4°F). The highest temperature recorded was 32.9°C (91.22°F) at Greycrook, Scottish Borders on 9 August 2003.

Generally, western Scotland is warmer than the east because of the influence of the Atlantic ocean currents and the colder surface temperatures of the North Sea. Tiree, in the Inner Hebrides, is the sunniest place in Scotland: it had 300 days with sunshine in 1975. Rainfall varies widely across Scotland. The western highlands of Scotland are the wettest place, with annual rainfall exceeding 3,000 mm (120 inches),while much of lowland Scotland receives less than 800 mm (31 inches) annually. Heavy snowfall is not common in the lowlands, but becomes more common with altitude. Braemar has an average of 59 snow days per year, while coastal areas have an average of fewer than 10 days.

Northern Ireland has a temperate maritime climate, wetter in the west than the east, although cloud cover is persistent across the region. The weather is unpredictable at all times of the year, and the seasons are less pronounced than in interior Europe or the eastern seaboard of North America. Average daytime maximums in Belfast are 6.5°C (43.7°F) in January and 17.5°C (63.5°F) in July. The damp climate and extensive deforestation in the 16th and 17th centuries resulted in much of the region being covered in rich green grassland. The highest maximum temperature was set at 30.8°C (87.4°F) at Knockarevan, near Belleek, County Fermanagh on 30 June 1976 and at Belfast on 12 July 1983, whilst the lowest minimum temperature recorded at -17.5°C (0.5°F) in Magherally, near Banbridge, County Down on 1 January 1979. [16]

The UK, like the rest of Europe, has been in recent years, hit by many freak heatwaves during the summer. The heatwaves have been the reason for many deaths in the past years when temperatures easily soar past 30°C (86°F), nearing the 40°C (104°F) mark.

Cities

Due to differences between the administrative boundaries and metropolitan areas of cities, and because of merging of settlements into conurbations, there are many different statistics and debates on which cities are the UK's largest. The capitals of the UK's constituent countries are London (England), Edinburgh (Scotland), Cardiff (Wales) and Belfast (Northern Ireland). London is by far the UK's largest city, whilst Birmingham is considered, population-wise, the 'second city'.

Demography

The UK population according to the 2011 census was 63,181,775. In 2007 birth per woman were 1.84 (up from 1.74 in 2005); the net annual migration was 190,000 (up from 145,000 in 2005), and the life expectancy at birth for females was 86.2 years (up from 85.0).

Its overall population density is one of the highest in the world. About a quarter of the population lives in the south-east and is predominantly urban and suburban, with an estimated 7,517,700 in the capital of London. The United Kingdom's high literacy rate (99%) is attributable to universal public education established by law for the primary level in 1870 (though in fact nearly all children of primary age were already attending school) and secondary level in 1900 (except in Scotland where it was introduced in 1696). Education is mandatory from ages four or five (dependent on birth date) to sixteen.

Population history

The lands now constituting the UK have been subject to many invasions and migrations, especially from Scandinavia and the continent of Europe, including Roman occupation for several centuries. The Romans, however, left a minimal long-term impact on the culture. The Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, and Norse cultural traditions were blended under the Normans after that French-speaking group invaded and conquered England in 1066.

Immigration

Immigration has come through interaction with continental Europe and ties forged by the British Empire. Continuous waves of immigration have brought people to the UK, with Europe, Africa and South-East Asia being the biggest areas from where people emigrate. The UK has amongst the highest immigration rates in Europe, along with Italy and Spain In the Greater London area the 2011 census found only 45% of the population identifying themselves as "White British".The latest wave of immigration began in May 2004 when the European Union was expanded. From May 2004 to June 2006, around 600,000 people from Central and Eastern Europe emigrated to the UK to work; this figure is for arrivals only and does not take account of people leaving, so net migration will be lower. In 2004 net migration from EU states stood at 74,000.

Language

English is understood and used everyday by the vast majority of British people. Its continued use is therefore of some cultural importance; the British enjoy the prestige and status of being a major English-speaking nation whose language acts as a common lingua franca for millions worldwide.

Various laws and procedures award some degree of recognition to other indigenous languages of the UK: for example, in 2011, Welsh became an official language of Wales through legislation passed by the Welsh Assembly, and Scottish law promotes Scots Gaelic with a view to making it official. In Northern Ireland, Irish and Ulster Scots are officially-recognised minority varieties. European Union legislation designed to protect minority languages has also granted some legislative protection to such languages as Scots, Cornish and British Sign Language (BSL). In contrast, though English is recognised in Scotland and Wales, no legal document explicitly defines it as an official language of the whole UK, meaning that the tongue of the overwhelming majority is protected by its sheer number of speakers rather than any act of parliament.

The UK's native languages, aside from BSL, can be divided into two families: English and Scots are two closely-related Germanic languages, while Welsh, Scots Gaelic, Irish and Cornish are Celtic.

Romani is a language brought to the UK's shores through immigration, but in the UK the term immigrant languages is generally reserved for more recent arrivals. The open passport system in the Commonwealth enabled immigration from former colonies. The UK includes the largest groups of Hindi and Punjabi speakers outside Asia. Such groups may maintain ties with historic homelands while playing an active part in all aspects of British life.

Even more recently, the expansion of the European Union in 2004 to accommodate ten mainly Eastern European countries has led to increased, although predominantly temporary, immigration. In a typical British urban area, therefore, languages such as Polish may be heard alongside Urdu and Bengali; likewise, English as a first or second language will be common to most of these speakers.

Religion

The United Kingdom is an increasingly secular society. Numbers saying they have no religion vary substantially with the exact form of the question, but time series indicate a substantial increase, and some surveys now give a majority. However, this overall decline masks increases, soemtimes substantial, in non-Christian religions. Similarly, the decline in Christianity masks growth in some forms, particularly some Evangelical/Pentecostal churches.

In terms of actual religious practice, 62 percent of those surveyed say that they never attend a religious service The Church of England is the officially established church in England, and is the senior branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Presbyterian Church of Scotland (known as "The Kirk") is the official national church of Scotland. In Wales, the Church in Wales is disestablished from the Church of England, but remains a member of the Anglican communion. The Roman Catholic Church is the country's second largest Christian denomination and is the largest denomination in Northern Ireland. The Presbyterian Church in Ireland is closely linked to the Church of Scotland, and is the province's largest Protestant denomination. The United Kingdom's Christian denominations also include the Methodists and Baptists, and there are substantial numbers of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs with Judaism, Buddhism and other religions occuring in smaller numbers.

Economy

(the numbers quoted in this paragraph come from the OECD 2010 factbook[3], unless otherwise stated)

The United Kingdom has an open market economy with limited natural resources and a proficient workforce. It is an industrialised economy with a small agricultural sector. In more precise terms, trade in goods and services amounts to around 30 percent of GDP, and there are no trade restrictions except for agricultural products. Seventy percent of the working age population is in employment, with proficiency levels in reading, mathematics and science that are close to the OECD average. Agricultural products account for less than one percent of the value of domestic output, as compared with 39 percent for production and distribution, 17 percent for government, health and education, and 8 per cent for finance and insurance. It is a heavily indebted economy with a household debt burden among the highest in the world at about 160 percent of disposable income, and government debt in line with the OECD average at about 100 percent of GDP; and the debt burden is expected to rise. As percentages of GDP, total tax revenue, and taxation on corporate income are about the same as the OECD average, and the revenue from taxation on personal income is about 10 per cent higher. The economy is currently running at below capacity with an output gap of 4.4 percent, compared with a 3.4 percent OECD average, and the unemployment rate is 7.9 percent compared with an OECD average of 8.5 percent.

Armed Forces

The armed forces of the UK are known as the British Armed Forces or Her Majesty's Armed Forces, but officially Armed Forces of the Crown. Their Commander-in-Chief is the British monarch, HM The Queen and they are managed by the Ministry of Defence. The armed forces are controlled by the Defence Council currently headed by Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup.

The UK fields one of the most powerful and comprehensive armed forces in the World. Its global power projection capabilities are second only to those of the United States Military. The UK has the 2nd highest military expenditure in the world after the USA.

The UK has a comprehensive nuclear arsenal, one of the few countries to do so, using the submarine-based Trident II ballistic missile system with nuclear warheads. These Vanguard class submarines were designed and built by VSEL (now BAE Systems Submarines) at Barrow-in-Furness.

The British Armed Forces are charged with protecting the UK and its overseas territories, promoting the UK's wider security interests, and supporting international peacekeeping efforts. They are active and regular participants in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and other coalition operations.

One of the Royal Navy's Nuclear Submarines launches a Trident II Nuclear Missile.

The British Army had a reported strength of 102,440 in 2005 and the Royal Air Force a strength of 49,210. The 36,320-member Royal Navy operates the UK's nuclear deterrent, which consists of four Trident missile-armed submarines, while the Royal Marines are the Royal Navy's Light Infantry units for amphibious operations and for specialist reinforcement forces in and beyond the NATO area. This puts total active duty military troops in the 190,000 range, currently deployed in over eighty countries.

There are also reserve forces supporting the regular military. These include an army reserve, the Territorial Army (TA); the Royal Naval Reserve (RNR), Royal Marines Reserve (RMR) and the Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF). About 9% of the regular armed forces are comprised of women, a figure that is higher for the reserve forces.

The United Kingdom Special Forces, principally the Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Boat Service (SBS), but including others, provide troops trained for quick, mobile, military responses in Counter-Terrorism, land, maritime and amphibious operations; often where secrecy or covert operations are required. The Royal Navy is the second largest navy in the Western World in terms of gross tonnage. Despite the United Kingdom's wide-ranging capabilities, recent pragmatic defence policy has a stated assumption that "the most demanding operations" would be undertaken as part of a coalition. Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq Granby, no-fly zones, Desert Fox, and Telic) may all be taken as precedent; indeed the last war in which the British military fought alone was the Falklands War of 1982, with full-scale combat operations lasting almost three months.

Culture

Education and science

The UK has some of the world's leading universities, including the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. It has produced many great scholars, scientists and engineers including Isaac Newton, Adam Smith, The Lord Kelvin, Humphry Davy, Joseph John Thomson, Michael Faraday, Charles Darwin, Alexander Fleming, Francis Crick, Joseph William Bazalgette and Isambard Kingdom Brunel; the nation is credited with numerous inventions including the steam locomotive, vaccination, television, the modern railway, the lawn mower, electric lighting, the electric motor, the screw propeller, the internal combustion engine, the jet engine, the modern bicycle, the ejector seat, the third mechanical and electronic computer, along with the later development of the World Wide Web.

In 2006, it was reported that the UK was the most productive source of research after the USA, producing 9% of the world's scientific research papers and attracting 12% of all citations.

Literature

The plays of William Shakespeare crowd the stage of English letters. Other major writers include Daniel Defoe, Sir Walter Scott, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, the Brontë sisters, Thomas Hardy, Joseph Conrad, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Virginia Woolf, D. H. Lawrence, George Orwell and Graham Greene Contemporary British writers include Salman Rushdie and J. K. Rowling.

Important playwrights include Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson and, more recently Alan Ayckbourn, Harold Pinter and Tom Stoppard. Important poets include Geoffrey Chaucer, Shakespeare, John Milton, William Blake, Robert Burns, William Wordsworth, Lord Byron, John Keats, Lord Tennyson, R. S. Thomas, Wilfred Owen, John Betjeman, W. H. Auden, Dylan Thomas and Ted Hughes.

Design and architecture

The UK has produced a number of important architects, including Sir Christopher Wren, and Sir Norman Foster along with designers Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Jonathan Ive.

Music

George Frideric Handel, especially with his English oratorios (notably "Messiah"), is the most performed British composer (he was naturalized by Act of parliament in 1727). Others include Henry Purcell, Edward Elgar, Arthur Sullivan (most famous for working with librettist W. S. Gilbert as "Gilbert and Sullivan"), Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Benjamin Britten.

The UK was, with the USA, one of the two main contributors in the development of rock and roll, and the UK has provided some of the world's most famous rock bands including the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones. The UK was at the forefront of punk rock with bands like the Sex Pistols and the Clash, music in the 1970s as well as the subsequent rebirth of heavy metal. The late-1970s and 1980s saw the rise of New Wave. The so-called 'Second British Invasion' into the US popular music scene took place from 1982 to 1984 when UK bands flooded the US Billboard charts. In the mid to late-1990s, the Britpop phenomenon saw bands such as Oasis and Blur attain considerable national and international success. The 1990s also saw the rise of major Welsh bands such as the Stereophonics and Manic Street Preachers. The UK is also at the forefront of electronica, with British artists such as the Prodigy and the Chemical Brothers helping this mainly underground genre to cross over into the mainstream (having originated in the early-90's with techno bands such as Orbital). Also British pop producers Stock Aitken Waterman - dominated the charts in the late-80's and early-90's with their instantly recognisable brand of pop. The 1990s charts were also dominated by the boy band phenomenon, with groups such as Take That thriving amongst countless others. Girl groups such as the Spice Girls also found considerable success. From 1997 onwards, so-called 'soft rock' bands have dominated the serious popular music scene including Coldplay, although after 2003 a high number of 'indie rock' bands emerged and have found considerable success.

Media

The UK has a large and diverse media, and the prominence of the English language gives it an international dimension.

The BBC is the UK's publicly-funded radio and television broadcasting corporation, and is the oldest broadcaster in the world. Funded by the compulsory television licence, the BBC operates several television channels and radio stations both in the UK and abroad. The BBC World Service radio channel is broadcast in 33 languages around the world. BBC News is also broadcast around the world. The main, free-to-air television channels in the UK are BBC1, BBC2, ITV1 (STV in scotland), Channel 4 and Five. The main satellite broadcaster is British Sky Broadcasting, and digital cable services are provided by Virgin Media (created by the merger of NTL and Telewest ), and free-to-air digital terrestrial television by Freeview.

Radio in the UK is dominated by BBC Radio, which operates ten national and forty regional radio stations. The most popular radio station, by number of listeners, is BBC Radio 2 which specialises in popular music aimed at the 'middle aged' age bracket; it is closely followed by BBC Radio 1, aimed at the 15-24 aged bracket and the previous market leader. Commercial radio tends to be regionalised, although Virgin Radio, Classic FM and talkSPORT are broadcast nationally. Popular regional stations include Capital Radio in London; Heart in London and Midlands; Galaxy in Birmingham and the north of England; Magic in London and the north of England; and Radio Clyde in Glasgow.

Traditionally, British newspapers could be split into "quality", serious-minded newspapers (usually referred to as broadsheets because of their large size) and tabloid, popular newspapers. However, because of considerations of convenience of reading, many traditional broadsheets have both switched to a 'compact'-sized format, traditionally used by tabloids. The Sun has the highest circulation of any daily newspaper in the UK, with approximately a quarter of the market; its sister paper, The News of The World similarly leads the Sunday newspaper market, and traditionally focuses on celebrity-led stories. The The Daily Telegraph, a right-of-centre paper, is the highest selling of the qualities (former broadsheets), having overtaken The Times in circulation figures. The Guardian is a more liberal or left-wing former broadsheet. The Financial Times is the main business paper, printed on distinctive salmon-pink broadsheet paper.

Sport

A number of major sports originated in the United Kingdom, including association football, rugby football (rugby union and rugby league), golf, cricket, tennis and boxing.

The most popular sport in the country is association football, commonly referred to as just "football". The UK rarely competes as a nation in any major football tournament. Instead, the home nations compete individually as England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It is because of this unique four-team arrangement that the UK currently does not compete in football events at the Olympic Games. It is in this way that rugby football differs internationally to association football, as the England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland (which includes Northern Ireland) teams do come together to form the British and Irish Lions, though they do all compete separately internationally for the most part.

The UK football clubs compete in national leagues and competitions and some go on to compete in European competitions. British teams are generally successful in European competitions and several have become European Cup/UEFA Champions League winners: Liverpool (five times), Manchester United (twice), Nottingham Forest (twice), Aston Villa and Celtic.

Both forms of rugby are national sports. Rugby league originates from and is generally played in the North of England, whilst Rugby Union is played predominantly in Wales, Northern Ireland and Southern England. Having supposedly originated from the actions of William Webb Ellis at the town of Rugby, it is considered the national sport of Wales. In rugby league the UK plays as one nation – Great Britain – though in union it is represented by four nations: England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland (which consists of players from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). England is the current holder of the Rugby World Cup. Every four years the British and Irish Lions tour either Australia, New Zealand or South Africa.

The Wimbledon Championships are international tennis events held in Wimbledon in south London every summer and are seen as the most prestigious of the tennis calendar.

Thoroughbred racing is also very popular in England. It originated under Charles II of England as the "Sport of Kings" and is a royal pastime to this day. World-famous horse races include the Grand National and the Epsom Derby.

Golf is one of the most popular participation sports played in the UK, and St Andrews in Scotland is the sport's home course. Cricket is also popular, though much more in England than in other parts of the UK; all four constituent nations compete at the One-Day International level – Scotland independently, Wales as part of the English team, and Northern Ireland as part of all-Ireland.

Shinty or camanachd (a sport derived from the same root as the Irish hurling and similar to bandy) is popular in the Scottish Highlands, sometimes attracting crowds numbering thousands in the most sparsely populated region of the UK.

The country is closely associated with motorsport. Many teams and drivers in Formula One and the World Rally Championship are based in the UK. The country also hosts legs of the F1 and World Rallying Championship calendars and has its own Touring Car Racing championship, the BTCC.

British Formula One World Champions include Mike Hawthorn, Graham Hill (twice), Jim Clark (twice), John Surtees (who was also successful on motorcycles), Jackie Stewart (three times), James Hunt, Nigel Mansell, and Graham Hill's son, Damon Hill. British drivers have not been as successful in the World Rally Championship, with only the late Colin McRae and the late Richard Burns winning the title.

In 2012, London hosted the Summer Olympic Games. It was the third time the city hosted the games - previously doing so in 1908 and 1948. The UK's most successful Olympian is Steven Redgrave who won five gold and one bronze medals at five consecutive Olympic Games as well as numerous wins at the World Rowing Championships and Henley Royal Regatta.

Symbols

• The flag of the UK is the Union Flag (commonly known as the "Union Jack"), which is a superimposition of the flags of England (St George's Cross) and Scotland (Saint Andrew's Cross); the Saint Patrick's cross, representing Ireland, was added in 1801.

• The national anthem is God Save the Queen.

• Britannia is a personification of the UK, originating from the Roman occupation of southern and central Great Britain. Britannia is symbolised as a young woman with brown or golden hair, wearing a Corinthian helmet and white robes. She holds Poseidon's three-pronged trident and a shield, bearing the Union Flag. Sometimes she is depicted as riding the back of a lion. In modern usage, Britannia is often associated with maritime dominance, as in the patriotic song Rule Britannia.

• The lion has also been used as a symbol of the UK; one is depicted behind Britannia on the 50 pence piece and one is shown crowned on the back of the 10 pence piece, it is also used as a symbol on the non-ceremonial flag of the British Army. Lions have been used as heraldic devices many times, including in the royal arms of the kingdoms of England, Scotland, Kingdom of Gwynedd in Wales and of Northern Ireland. The lion is featured on the emblem of the England national football team, giving rise to the popular football anthem Three Lions.

• The bulldog, or "British Bulldog", is sometimes used as a symbol of the United Kingdom.

• The UK (especially England) is also personified as the character John Bull.

Miscellaneous data

• Cellular frequency: GSM 900, GSM 1800, UMTS 2100
• Cellular technology: GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA
• Date format: DD/MM/YY (example: 22/12/05) or 22 December 2005
• Time format: Generally 12-hour format when spoken or in writing (example: 5.15 pm), 24-hour format is used in some official documentation and in timetables (example: 17:15 or 1715).
• Decimal separator is a full stop: 123.45
• Thousands are separated (formal) by a comma: 10,000. (To avoid confusion with continental countries which use the comma as the decimal separator, a space may be used, e.g. 10 000.)
• Voltage: 230V (+10% / -6%), 50 Hz; Power connector: 3 rectangle pins