United Kingdom

TheUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland(UK), commonly known as theUnited Kingdom(UK) orBritain,is asovereign countryin north-westernEurope,off the north-western coast of the European mainland. The United Kingdom includes the island ofGreat Britain,the north-eastern part of the island ofIreland,andmany smaller islandswithin theBritish Isles.Northern Irelandsharesa land borderwith theRepublic of Ireland,and Great Britain has road and rail links withFrancevia theChannel Tunnel.The United Kingdom consists offour countries:England,Scotland,WalesandNorthern Ireland.The capital isLondon,aglobal cityandfinancial centrewith an urban area population of 10.3 million. The national language of the United Kingdom isEnglish.Its current head of state isCharles III,its current head of government is Prime MinisterKeir Starmer,and itsParliamentis currently controlled by theLabour Party.

Map of the United Kingdom

Britain is a complex harmony, not a male voice choir. ~David Cameron

Quotes

If Great Britain were defeated in war I hoped we should find a Hitler to lead us back to our rightful position among the nations. ~Winston Churchill

Dear land of hope, thy hope is crowned! God make thee mightier yet! ~Arthur Benson

Land of hope and glory, mother of the free! How shall we extol thee, who are born of thee? God, who made thee mighty? Make thee mightier yet. ~Arthur Christopher Benson

Great Britain is a republic with a hereditary president. ~The Knoxville Journal

When Britain first, at heaven's command. Arose from out of the azure main! This was the charter of the land. ~James Thomson

In today's Britain, the idea that there could be a Constitution more powerful than any crowned head or elected politician is thought of as a breathtakingly new and daring idea. ~Christopher Hitchens

Five generations ago, Britain was ashamed to write books in her own tongue. Now her language is spoken in all quarters of the globe. ~Frederick Douglass

Britain still thinks it's 1999. ~Irwin M. Stelzer

Some talk of Alexander, and some of Hercules. Of Hector and Lysander, and such great names as these. But of all the world's great heroes, there's none that can compare with the tow-row-row-row-row-row of the British grenadiers! ~ "The British Grenadiers"

18th century

• When Britain first, at heaven's command,
  Arose from out of the azure main,
  This was the charter of the land,
  And guardian angels sung this strain:
  “Rule, Britannia, rule the waves;
  Britons never will be slaves.”
  • James Thomson,"Rule, Britannia", fromAlfred: a Masque(1740), II, V

• Some talk ofAlexander,and some ofHercules.
  OfHectorandLysander,and such great names as these.
  But of all the world's brave heroes, there's none that can compare
  With a tow, row, row, row, row, row, to the British grenadiers!
  • "The British Grenadiers"(1750)

19th century

• ... the twelve or fifteen millions in theBritish Empire,who, while they possess no electoral rights, are yet persuaded they are freemen, and who are mystified into the notion that they are not political bondmen, by that great juggle of the ‘English Constitution’—a thing of monopolies, and Church-craft, and sinecures, armorial hocus-pocus, primogeniture, and pageantry!
  • Richard Cobden,letter to F. Cobden (11 September 1838), quoted in John Morley,The Life of Richard Cobden(London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1905), p. 130

• We have been told, to-day, that it was a woman that agitated Great Britain to its very centre, before emancipation could be effected in her colonies. Woman must go hand in hand with man in every great and noble cause, if success would be insured.
  • Ernestine RoseSpeech(August 4, 1853) at the Anniversary of West Indian Emancipation

• Look atEngland,whose mighty power is now felt, and for centuries has been felt, all around the world. It is worthy of special remark, that precisely those parts ofthat proud islandwhich have received the largest and most diversified populations, are to day the parts most distinguished for industry, enterprise, invention and general enlightenment. InWales,and in theHighlands of Scotlandthe boast is made of their pure blood, and that they were never conquered, but no man can contemplate them without wishing they had been conquered. They are far in the rear of every other part of the English realm in all the comforts and conveniences of life, as well as in mental and physical development. Neither law nor learning descends to us from the mountains of Wales or from the Highlands ofScotland.Theancient Briton,whomJulius Caesarwould not have as aslave,is not to be compared with the round, burly, amplitudinousEnglishmanin many of his qualities of desirable manhood.
  • Frederick Douglass,"Our Composite Nationality"(7 December 1869), Boston, Massachusetts

• Five generations ago, Britain was ashamed to write books in her own tongue. Nowher languageis spoken in all quarters of the globe.
  • Frederick Douglass,"Self-Made Men"(1872)

• Great Britain is arepublicwith a hereditarypresident,while the United States is amonarchywith an electiveking.
  • The Knoxville Journal(9 February 1896), as quoted in"The Politics of American Foreign Policy"byPeter Heys Gries,p. 170

20th century

• Dear land ofhope,thy hope is crowned!Godmake thee mightier yet... By truth maintained, thineempireshall be strong... Land of hope and glory, mother of the free! How shall we extol thee, who are born of thee? God, who made thee mighty? Make thee mightier yet.
  • Arthur Benson,"Land of Hope and Glory"(1902)

• I have always said that ifGreat Britainwere defeated in war I hoped we should find aHitlerto lead us back to our rightful position among the nations. I am sorry, however, that he has not been mellowed by the great success that has attended him. The whole world would rejoice to see the Hitler ofpeaceandtolerance,and nothing would adorn his name in world history so much as acts ofmagnanimityand ofmercyand ofpityto the forlorn and friendless, to the weak and poor.... Let this great man search his own heart and conscience before he accuses anyone of being a warmonger.
  • Winston Churchill,"Mr. Churchill's Reply" inThe Times(7 November 1938)

• BritainandFrancehad to choose between war and dishonour. They chose dishonour. They will have war.
  • Winston Churchill,toNeville Chamberlainin the House of Commons, after the Munich accords (1938)

• We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight inFrance,we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by theBritish Fleet,would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, theNew World,with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the Old.
  • Winston Churchill,speech in the House of Commons (4 June 1940)

• When I warned them that Britain would fight on alone whatever they did, their generals toldtheir Prime Ministerand his divided Cabinet, 'In three weeksEnglandwill have her neck wrung like achicken'. Some chicken! Some neck!
  • Winston Churchill,speech to the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa (30 December 1941), as quoted inThe Yale Book of Quotations,by Fred R. Shapiro, Yale University Press (2006), p. 153

• England is an amazing and paradoxical country; there are, in spite of the great emphasis upon "democracy,"all indications of the existence of anaristocraticandoligarchicrule, yet this generally recognized fact caused little if any human resentment among thelowerclasses. [...] The tacit and genuine, humanacceptanceof aristocratic or at leastupper class leadershipgives Britain the right to call itself a "democracy" without being one in reality. Hierarchic feelings always were very strong in England, but the extreme elasticity of the class system has always mitigated the apprehensions if aroused. Nowhere are classes more receptive to new elements, nowhere is it easier to rise socially, yet nowhere are the differences between the classes so marked as in England (with the exception of India and certain sections of the United States).
  • Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn,The Menace of the Herd(1943), p. 218

• British democracy approves the principles of movable party heads and unwaggable national tails.
  • Winston Churchill,address to a joint session of Congress, Washington, D.C. (17 January 1952); reported inWinston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches, 1897–1963,ed. Robert Rhodes James (1974), vol. 8, p. 8,326

• The Britishtouristis always happy abroad as long as the natives are waiters.
  • Robert Morley,The Observer(20 April 1958), as quoted inMore Caviar(1959), by Art Buchwald. Harper, p. 54

• We shall have to learn again to be one nation, or one day we shall be no nation.
  • Margaret Thatcher,Conservative Party television broadcast “Winter of Discontent” (January 17, 1979)

• I can't bear Britain in decline. I just can't.
  • Margaret Thatcher,Interviewed by Michael Cockerell for BBC TV'sCampaign '79(27 April, 1979).

• The British have always fought, to be sure. NonationonEarthcan be taken seriously in historical circles unless it has had at least onewarwith the British; it's like not having anAmerican Expresscard. And yet the very idea of Britain in a contemporary war is a shock. Britain, one feels, fights inhistorybooksand not onTV.
  • Gene Wolfe,"A Few Points About knife Throwing",Fantasy Newsletter(1983), as reprinted in Gene Wolfe,Castle of Days(1992)

• I came to office with one deliberate intent: to change Britain from a dependent to a self-reliant society – from a give-it-to-me, to a do-it-yourself nation. A get-up-and-go, instead of a sit-back-and-wait-for-it Britain.
  • Margaret Thatcher,Speech to Small Business Bureau Conference (8 February 1984).

• TheBritish monarchyinculcates unthinkingcredulityandservility.It forms a heavy layer on the general encrustation of our unreformed political institutions. It is the gilded peg from which our unlovely system of social distinction and hierarchy depends. It is an obstacle to the objective public discussion of our own history. It tribalises politics. It entrenches the absurdity of thehereditary principle.It contributes to what sometimes looks like an enfeeblement of the national intelligence, drawing from ourpressand even from some of ourpoetsthe sort of degrading and abnegatingpropagandathat would arouse contempt if displayed inZaireorRomania.It is, in short, neither dignified nor efficient... The United States, for example, has never had aPresidentas bad asGeorge III,but neither has Britain had a king as admirable asGeorge Washington(of whomWilliam Thackerayrightly said that 'his glory will descend to remotest ages' while the memory of the sovereign went the other way).
  • Christopher Hitchens,The Monarchy: A Critique of Britain's Favourite Fetish(1990), Random House

• In today's Britain, the idea that there could be a Constitution more powerful – and even sacrosanct – than any crowned head or elected politician (thus abolishing the false antithesis between hereditary monarchs and capricious presidents) is thought of as a breathtakingly new and daring idea... Too many crucial things about this country turn out to be highly recommended because they are 'invisible'. There is the 'hidden hand'of the free market, the 'unwritten'Constitution,the 'invisible earnings' of the financial service sector, the 'magic' of monarchy and the 'mystery' of theChurchand its claim to the interpretation of revealed truth. When we do get as far as the visible or the palpable, too much of it is deemed secret. How right it is that senior ministers, having kissed hands with the monarch, are sworn to the cult of secrecy by 'The Privy Council Oath'. How right it is that our major foreign alliance – the 'special relationship' with the United States – is codified by no known treaty and regulated by no known Parliamentary instrument.
  • Christopher Hitchens,The Monarchy: A Critique of Britain's Favourite Fetish(1990), "Chatto Counterblasts"

• I am constantly filled with admiration at this – at the way you can wander through a town likeOxfordand in the space of a few hundred yards pass the home ofChristopher Wren,the buildings whereHalleyfoundhis cometandBoylehis first law, the track whereRoger Banisterran the first sub-four minute mile, the meadow whereLewis Carrollstrolled; or how you can stand on Snow's Hill at Windsor and see, in a single sweep,Windsor Castle,the playing fields of Eton, the churchyard whereGraywrote his 'Elegy,' the siteThe Merry Wives of Windsorwas first performed. Can there anywhere on earth be, in such a modest span, a landscape more packed with centuries of busy, productive attainment?
  • Bill Bryson,as quoted inNotes from a Small Island(1995)

21st century

• Britain still thinks it's 1999.
  • Irwin Stelzer,"Letter from Londonistan"(1 August 2005),The Weekly Standard

• The sound of modern Britain is a complex harmony, not a male voice choir.
  • David Cameron,speech aimed at Liberal Democrats: join me in my mission(16 December 2005)

• I want to help try and build a more responsible society here in Britain, one where we don't just ask what are my entitlements but what are my responsibilities, one where we don't ask what am I just owed but more what can I give, and a guide for that society that those that can should and those who can't we will always help.
  • David Cameron,first speech as Prime Minister, at 10 Downing Street (11 May 2010)

• Britain is blessed with a functioning political culture. It is dominated by people who live inLondonand who have often known each other since prep school. This makes it gossipy and often incestuous.
  • David Brooks,"Britain Is Working",The New York Times(23 May 2011)

• Britain is a special country. We have so many great advantages: aparliamentary democracywhere we resolve great issues about our future through peaceful debate; a great trading nation with ourscienceandarts,ourengineeringand ourcreativity,respected the world over. And while we are not perfect, I do believe we can be a model of a multiracial, multifaithdemocracywhere people can come and make a contribution, and rise to the very highest that their talent allows.
  • David Cameron,Resignation Speech,24 June 2016

• (On Britain’s tilt to the Indo-Pacific: ‘Old theme park’) You know, here’s our old friend – what’s his name – theBritish prime ministerwa xing lyrical down there inCornwall.I mean,Britain is like an old theme park sliding into theAtlanticcompared to modernChina.China is just going to be huge.
  • Paul Keating,'It would make a cat laugh’: key moments from Paul Keating’s National Press Club appearance,The Guardian(November 10, 2021)

• We weren’t taughtShakespeareorMiltonin order to understand our own situation—they were taught as the jewels inQueen Victoria’s crown. The point of thecolonial enterprisewas that it had all these people to control. Our education was about imprinting on us the greatness of England, the idea that the people who could produce these works were of a superior kind of people...I came to understand that I should separate Shakespeare and all of the rest fromDisraeliandHoratio Nelson—that the British Empire is one thing and literature another. I’ll take everything exceptKipling.Wordsworthwould have been very upset to know that his wonderfulpoemswere being used as a weapon of empire.
  • Jamaica KincaidInterviewwithThe Paris Review(2022)

External links

• Media related toUnited Kingdomon Wikimedia Commons
• United Kingdomtravel guide from Wikivoyage

• The dictionary definition ofunited kingdomon Wiktionary
• Works related toUnited Kingdomon Wikisource
• Encyclopedic article onUnited Kingdomon Wikipedia