Royal baby's name

[Phil H]

Jff

I believe it is unclear how much support Scottish independence has. Whether the referendum produces a yes vote or not, Scotland will retain the monarchy.

Edinburgh has never ceased to be its capital, by the way. It is there that the Parliament is situated, and HM The Queen spends a couple of weeks at her formal residence there - The Palace of Holyroodhouse - each year, holding investitures, garden partuies etc. (That's distinct from her annual summer holiday at Balmoral - a private residence.)

You are quite correct about Eire -I simplified, I'll admit.

but split the country in half to protect the Protestant minority in Northern Ireland

I would quibble slightly on that point.

Six counties - a third of the island remained british. But there was little choice.

In 1914, just before the First World war broke out there was a mutiny at the Curragh Barracks outside Dublin. Officers in the British Army, right up to the most senior, refused to impose a settlement on the north. The war intervened, but then there was a vicious civil war from 1919 to 1922ish. I don't think incorporating "Ulster" into the Republic would have worked at all.

Has there not been some suggestion recently that de Valera was a British agent? I seem to recall a book.

Phil

[RivkahChaya]

Rivkah,

I think there's a foreign misconception regarding England, Scotland and Wales.

Both Scotland and Wales are in a position to go it alone, and have chosen to not do so.

What do you mean "misconception"? or "foreign" for that matter? Most Americans have never heard of Wales, and while they've heard of Scotland, they can't find it on a map.

Most of my ideas of Welsh nationalism come from reading How Green Was My Valley, the tremendous force with which Welsh teams sing "Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau" (or whatever the actual title is) at ball games, and the fact that when I was in Cardiff in the late 1980s, people seemed very happy to speak English to Americans, but not always to English people. One shopkeeper was being rather unfriendly to me until I dropped the fact that I was from the US. I'm not sure how she confused a northern Manhattan-Queens accent with an English one, though, but once she knew I was American, she even let me hold her baby.

Now that I think of it, Americans usually refer to any UK accent that is not clearly Scottish, Irish or Welsh, as "British," rather than English. Probably because it sounds funny to talk about speaking "English with an English accent."

[Graham]

Let's face it, most Americans couldn't find America on a map.

G

[Phil Carter]

Thaddeus Makepeace Windsor

Err Scott, ] believe he will be Prince x y z of Cambridge.



Phil

[lynn cates]

Hear, hear.

Hello Mac.

"I was in Scotland recently for a week, and I was surprised by the number of union flags flying from buildings."

Hear, hear.

Cheers.
LC

[lynn cates]

No, no.

Hello Phil.

"If Scotland votes for independence next year - whither then?"

Heaven forbid.

Cheers.
LC

[Phil H]

Err Scott, ] believe he will be Prince x y z of Cambridge.


His title - but the family surname is Mountbatten-Windsor.

The royal house (i.e. dynasty) is called Windsor.

Phil

[Mayerling]

Hi Phil,

I have heard that due to De Valera's Spanish sounding name (and ancestry) all kinds of rumors arose about him - but not that he was a British agent. He had fought in the Easter Rebellion, and was lucky not to have been shot. He followed strict neutrality in World War II except to aid Belfast after bombing raids with fire engines. When Hitler arranged an accidental bombing to warn De Valera not to aid the North, De Valera informed the Nazi ambassador that if another "accident" occurred he would end the neutrality and join the Allies. No repeat of the accidental bombing occured as a result.

I had heard of the Curragh Mutiny, and how it forced Asquith to stop the implementation of Home Rule (although it barely passed the House of Commons vote). The World War did give the British something else to think about, but when it was over the situation was graver because of the successful leadership of Collins, Griffith, and De Valera in organizing a guerrilla resistance. This led to that 1922 agreement, but it really only satisfied the leader of the Northern Irish Unionists (James Craig), and Lloyd George, who at least finally gave some direction and settlement to the Irish problem. Griffith died shortly after signing the treaty, but Collins was killed in an ambush a number of weeks later for signing it. De Valera, who should have been in at the signing decided not to go - and was able to claim he never negotiated the division of Ireland in the treaty. His stand and that of the supporters of the treaty was to initiate that Civil War that Ireland had for a few years.

Jeff

[DVV]

Hello Phil.

"If Scotland votes for independence next year - whither then?"

Heaven forbid.

Cheers.
LC

That would be a bit of a blow for the British Lions.

[Chris Scott]

There is often confusion between terms which are purely geographical and terms which are geopolitical.
British Isles - is a purely geographical term which denotes all of the islands which make up what might be termed the British group, thus including the mainland, all of the island of Ireland and all surrounding islands such as the the Orkneys, Hebrides, Shetlands, Channel Islands, Scillies etc.
Great Britain - what is commonly called the Mainland i.e. the main landmass of the British Isles. This includes England and Wales, Scotland and attendant islands
United Kingdom - Those parts of the British Isles united politically under the British Crown. This includes England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and attendant islands. Strictly speaking this does not include the Crown Dependencies, those historical oddities that answer directly to the Crown and not to the UK parliament. These are the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, which have their own parliaments.
The term "Britain" has no specific meaning per se but I would suggest it is usually used as a synonym for the United Kingdom.
Even the British themselves get confused about these terms and misuse them. A classic recent example was the 2012 Olympics. The British team was "branded" as Team GB but the use of the term Great Britain, which applies only to the mainland, would have precluded the entry of any athletes from Northern Ireland which is not part of "GB." Of course, this was not done, but the branding strictly should have been as "Team UK."

[Phil H]

Norman Davis, in his great book "The Isles" has a deeply interesting discussion of this.

I believe also that until the mid-C19th it was formally correct to use England as a synonym for Britain in diplomatic contexts.

Phil

[The Good Michael]

Let's face it, most Americans couldn't find America on a map.

G

And you've met most Americans? Ignorant comment.

Mike

[Sally]

Has this kid got a name yet or what?

[Fleetwood Mac]

And you've met most Americans? Ignorant comment.

Mike

All of the Americans I've met, admittedly 0.0001% of the US population, have seemed fairly knowledgeable to me; and always courteous.

Why would an American be able to place Wales or Scotland, anyway? The equivalent would be expecting a Briton to be able to place Ohio. I'd be willing to bet good money that 90% of the British population could not place more than 5 states correctly.

All of this goes back centuries to the days when European despots had a vested interest in having their subjects believe that Americans are idiots. I mean, imagine if it came to light that the citizens of a country without monarchy were better fed, better educated and more politicised than your average European. I think it was de Tocqueville who said something like: "they're more involved, but because of this they're destined to elect average leaders". Well, I'd much rather be involved than take the word of someone who had form for Despotism.

It's all a bit strange really as once upon a time liberals in England gushed praise onto the US as the 'next step othe road to freedom'. These days, liberals see the US as the anti-christ. It says a lot for the way Liberalism has been distorted into some malnourished offshoot which is anything but liberal.

In terms of names, I'm with Rivkah. Whatever happened to good old English names such as: Johnny, Jack, Jimmy, Bobby, Alf, Stan, Billy, Tommy? They seem a nice enough couple but I'm not really interested in their lives or the monarchy, but for the sake of sanity and a restoration of Englishness, let's have: John.

Should have added Joe, Dick and Teddy to the list of English names.

Was just thinking of my grandparents and their siblings names.

One of my Grandma had seven siblings and their names were: Bella, Dick, Joe, Ted, Doris, Violet, Alf and Florence. Only 95 years ago, but seems an eternity. These days people are named Sky - that's not a name, it's part of our environment!

[Fleetwood Mac]

Has this kid got a name yet or what?

Just Prince I think.

The royal formerly known as Prince, or something like that.