Is the UK a foreign country?

Kaiser_Sma

redspider wrote:

Ireland is a country, a nation, a republic.
The UK is a country, a nation, a queendom(!).

The UK is a 'constitutional monarchy', not a queendom. The monarch has had gradually reduced powers since the magna carta.

But literaly it is a differn't country so it is in that sense foreign. Although it's not particularily alien. Weather individuals believe it to be is a differnt story, legal and political boundries are often differn't from cultural and sentimental boundries.

JaysusMacfeck

Surely legal and political boundries take presidence over cultural and sentimental boundries?

redspider

Kaiser_Sma wrote:

The UK is a 'constitutional monarchy', not a queendom.

The 'queendom' remark was tongue-in-cheek as a reference to a queen (Elizabeth Windsor) being the head of state currently, and the state is a kingdom. Or should we now refer to it as the United Constitutional Monarchy if it is not a kingdom!?!

Also, surely Gibraltar and The Falklands which are officially in the UK.... should be recognised if Northern Ireland is. And also as Great Britian is a mis-translation of the original name given by the Normans, it should really be Big Britanny (Grande Bretagne), should the name be changed to:

The "United Constitutional Monarchy of Big Britanny, a contested 6/32 (approx) of Ireland known as Northern Ireland, a contested Falkland Islands (also known as the Malvinas) and a contested Gibraltar."

What a mess ! united, well, not really, so perhaps the "Not so United Constitutional Monarchy of Big Britanny .... etc ...." is even more appropriate!

:-)

ugh ..... or as some would say, uk !
Oh that's how UK should be pronounced, now I get it ;-)

redspider

Guys the mods and the mods only decide whats off topic here.

Carry on.

Mick86

JaysusMacfeck wrote:

....The replies in this thread haven't confirmed if the UK is foreign or not. Is it a foreign nation under the eyes of the Oireachtas?...

Aliens Act of 1935.

Definition of an alien. 2. —In this Act the word "alien" means a person who is not a citizen of Saorstát Eireann.

By extension then Britain is an alien nation.

Kaiser_Sma

redspider wrote:

The 'queendom' remark was tongue-in-cheek as a reference to a queen (Elizabeth Windsor) being the head of state currently, and the state is a kingdom. Or should we now refer to it as the United Constitutional Monarchy if it is not a kingdom!?!

It sounded like sensationalisim which is why i questioned it. But if you must nitpick, a country can call itself whatever it likes without changing it's offical political system, thats why it's not as you put it called the United 'Queendom'.

Also, surely Gibraltar and The Falklands which are officially in the UK.... should be recognised if Northern Ireland is.

Northern Ireland is recognised in the name because it wanted to be recognised as seperate from great britain while pardoxically being part of the union. The islands you mentioned are part of offerseas british terriotory and have not sought definitivly to seperate themselves from the blanket term great britain.

And also as Great Britian is a mis-translation of the original name given by the Normans, it should really be Big Britanny (Grande Bretagne), should the name be changed to:

Why make the distinction? the normans were prevailent in britain, there was little difference between the cultures of normandy and britain for a long time. The english word 'great', as with many other words, stems from the french equivilent (Grande), there is no direct french equivilent that i know of to differntiate great from big in the same way anglophones do. the word Britain stemed from the latin descriptions of which the french reinterpreted.

The "United Constitutional Monarchy of Big Britanny, a contested 6/32 (approx) of Ireland known as Northern Ireland, a contested Falkland Islands (also known as the Malvinas) and a contested Gibraltar."

Contested? everywere is contested by somebody, it doesn't mean any governemtn has to recognise it in their countries name. The name Malvinas isn't recognised by the british government or the ridiculous claims of the argentinians towards the ownership of an island which contains people of mostly british lineage.

What a mess ! united, well, not really, so perhaps the "Not so United Constitutional Monarchy of Big Britanny .... etc ...." is even more appropriate!

No, the exsisting name is far more appropriate

ugh ..... or as some would say, uk !
Oh that's how UK should be pronounced, now I get it ;-)

Changing the case from upper to lower does not effect pronounciation, unless ireland is significantly differnt from Ireland when spoken.
U.K. or U-K would be the anal ways of writing it, but typing 'uk' is acceptable to most people (due to the lack of any english word both spelt the same and used commonly) except those who truly have nothing better to do then argue about nonsense.

sceptre

redspider wrote:

Also, surely Gibraltar and The Falklands which are officially in the UK

They aren't.

Zebra3

Victor wrote:

We can tell the EU to go stuff themselves, we just choose not to.

But when we do, the government and big business intimidate the people in to changing their minds. :mad:

Victor

redspider wrote:

Also, surely Gibraltar and The Falklands which are officially in the UK.... should be recognised if Northern Ireland is. And also as Great Britian is a mis-translation of the original name given by the Normans, it should really be Big Britanny (Grande Bretagne), should the name be changed to:

No. Great Britain came from the original Act of Union (1707?) as Britain + Scotland.

Britain came about from the joining of English and Welsh law in the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542. Britain was considered a Welsh word (just as in Irish you have an Bhreatain Bheag) and adopting the name was a sop to the Welsh.

A Dub in Glasgo

The United Kingdom of Great Britian came into being in 1707 with the joining of the Kingdom of England (with Wales in tow) and the Kingdom of Scotland.

This was further supplanted in 1800 when the Kingdom of Ireland joined the United Kingdom of Great Britainn. This was then known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. When Ireland was partitioned, the UK became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Interestingly, NI was never a Kingdom!

Victor

A Dub in Glasgo wrote:

Interestingly, NI was never a Kingdom!

Thats an odd one alright, because Ireland was a kingdom for 1927-37.

Do the South Koreans consider the North Koreans foreigners? Also Germany, Yemen, Vietnam in times past?

redspider

sceptre wrote:

They aren't.

Yes, they are ! :-)

According to this:
http://worldfactbook.com/country/Falkland%20Islands%20(Islas%20Malvinas)/2005/gov

and I'm sure if you do more research yourself, you will find that the Falkland Islands are an overseas territory of the UK, officially. Officially its the UK. Officially when you are in Stanley you are in the same country as when walking in Hamsptead Heath, Picadilly Circus or the Falls Road in Belfast, or indeed Gibraltar.

By the way, the history of the Falklands is as follows:

Although first sighted by an English navigator in 1592, the first landing (English) did not occur until almost a century later in 1690, and the first settlement (French) was not established until 1764. The colony was turned over to Spain two years later and the islands have since been the subject of a territorial dispute, first between Britain and Spain, then between Britain and Argentina. The UK asserted its claim to the islands by establishing a naval garrison there in 1833. Argentina invaded the islands on 2 April 1982. The British responded with an expeditionary force that landed seven weeks later and after fierce fighting forced Argentine surrender on 14 June 1982.


In my opinion, the Falkland Islands are to the UK in the the same way that Guantanamo Bay is to the US. Its a military base. Both areas should belong to other countries, and just like Hong Kong was handed back, its only a matter of time before the Falkland Islands are handed to some country that is closer, as in Argentina, or the Falkland Islanders can become independent if they want.

Redspider

redspider

Kaiser_Sma wrote:

a country can call itself whatever it likes without changing it's offical political system

Contested? everywere is contested by somebody

Its true, a country can call itself whatever it likes and the official name of the country in question, and you will know this, is "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".

It is not the UK (pronounced you-kay). UK is an abbreviation but its not the offical name of the country. A more accurate abbreviation is UKGBNI. I personally keep in the smaller words as they help to vowelise it and hence call it UKOGBANI (pronouned you-cog-bani).

I'm sure if I were the Falkland Islanders, or the Isla Malvinas-ers, of the Gibraltarians, I would like to see my parts recognised as well. So something like: "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar" ... something like UKOGBANIAFIAG. Even I have difficulty pronouncing that! :-)

Or I could go back to what I called it earlier, "the United Constitutional Monarchy of Big Britanny, a contested 6/32 (approx) of Ireland known as Northern Ireland, a contested Falkland Islands (also known as the Malvinas) and a contested Gibraltar."

Its just as valid a label as the UK is, both of which are not official names of the country.

> Contested? everywere is contested by somebody

I wish it were different, some century soon perhaps. Can we have Rockall then?

Redspider

ps: does the person who originally asked the 'foreign country' question have their answer yet?

Victor

Oh no their not .... who is their MP?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_overseas_territories

A British overseas territory is one of 14 (as of 2006) territories which are not part of the United Kingdom but come under its sovereignty.

LordSutch

There seems to be an awful lot of confusion in this thread by 'some' contributors as to what actually constitutes the make-up of the UK, and so, may I firstly suggest that we clarify what the UK actually is before we continue discussing if it is a 'Foreign' country or not.

In the year 2006:
THE UK = GREAT BRITAIN + NORTHERN IRELAND
(Great Britain is an island made up from Scotland England & Wales) and by adding Northern Ireland into the mix you have the United Kingdom of GB+NI.

Gibraltar is not part of the UK ~ The Falkland islands are not part of the UK ~ the Channel islands are not part of the UK ~ Bermuda is not part of the UK ~ & the isle of Man is not part of the UK!

Hope this clarifies this very basic concept once and for all.

Now lets carry on discussing the topic in question . . . . . . . . . .

homeOwner

When you arrive into the Bristol airport in England from the Republic of Ireland you arrive into the area called "Domestic Arrivels" and you depart back to Ireland from an area called "Domestic Departures".

Obviously they consider Ireland to be "domestic" in Bristol :mad:

homeOwner

homeOwner wrote:

When you arrive into the Bristol airport in England from the Republic of Ireland you arrive into the area called "Domestic Arrivels" and you depart back to Ireland from an area called "Domestic Departures".

Obviously they consider Ireland to be "domestic" in Bristol :mad:

No they don't.
Its the same in Heathrow.
Its done that way because,theres no travel restrictions between here and there (it's a concession probably because no Dublin Govt wants passports used on the NI border)
We're the only foreign country with that type of concession iirc.

homeOwner

Tristrame wrote:

No they don't.
Its the same in Heathrow.
Its done that way because,theres no travel restrictions between here and there (it's a concession probably because no Dublin Govt wants passports used on the NI border)
We're the only foreign country with that type of concession iirc.

I'm not talking about travel concessions. But since you are - do you think that removing restrictions on Irish people travelling gives them the right to label the area as domestic arrivals for flights coming from the ROI? Sure why not go the whole hog and issue us with UK passports to make the whole travel thing easier for everyone :rolleyes:

Stark

Tristame wrote:

We're the only foreign country with that type of concession iirc.

Well there's the Schengen zone which is a similar concept, whereby you can travel between most EU countries without passing border controls.

homeOwner wrote:

But since you are - do you think that removing restrictions on Irish people travelling gives them the right to label the area as domestic arrivals for flights coming from the ROI? Sure why not go the whole hog and issue us with UK passports to make the whole travel thing easier for everyone :rolleyes:

Sure let them issue us with UK passports. What's the big deal? So you're allowed use the Heathrow domestic channel when travelling from Ireland, why that's just one step away from English occupation.</sarc>

A Dub in Glasgo

ArthurF wrote:

may I firstly suggest that we clarify what the UK actually is before we continue discussing if it is a 'Foreign' country or not.



Hope this clarifies this very basic concept once and for all.

Now lets carry on discussing the topic in question . . . . . . . . . .

5 posts above yours

As for the topic

Of course the UK is a foreign country

A Dub in Glasgo

Tristrame wrote:

No they don't.
Its the same in Heathrow.
Its done that way because,theres no travel restrictions between here and there (it's a concession probably because no Dublin Govt wants passports used on the NI border)
We're the only foreign country with that type of concession iirc.

We do have a travel concession although the special restrictions on using the infrastructure at airports still apply.

Nevyn

Deleted User wrote:

Only just read this. Tbh, I didn't think it could happen, the Government cannot simply assign sovereignty over some part of this country and change the legal system in a certain area for a weekend or two.

Can anyone get a source for this or is it completely made up?

Of course they can and they are embassys.

Stark

Stark wrote:

Well there's the Schengen zone which is a similar concept, whereby you can travel between most EU countries without passing border controls.

Yeah its,much the same.I was meaning that we are the only country with open borders with the UK.
With the Schengen,if you have an Irish or UK passport,you are iirc supposed to pass through passport control.

A Dub in Glasgo wrote:

We do have a travel concession although the special restrictions on using the infrastructure at airports still apply.

What are these?

A Dub in Glasgo

Tristrame wrote:

What are these?

Security restrictions

I travelled Dublin - Glasgow last month and we were delayed from leaving the aircraft for 45 minutes because BAA did not have a bus available to take the passengers to the terminal. It was curious as an Easyjet flight from Luton parked beside us and the passengers immediately left the plane and through an arrivals door that was beside us. I asked why we were kept back when there was an arrivals door beside us and I was told that all RoI flights need to go to a special area of the terminal for security clearance. AFAIK, this arrivals place at Glasgow Airport is used exclusively for RoI originated aircraft.

Blackjack

A Dub in Glasgo wrote:

Security restrictions

I travelled Dublin - Glasgow last month and we were delayed from leaving the aircraft for 45 minutes because BAA did not have a bus available to take the passengers to the terminal. It was curious as an Easyjet flight from Luton parked beside us and the passengers immediately left the plane and through an arrivals door that was beside us. I asked why we were kept back when there was an arrivals door beside us and I was told that all RoI flights need to go to a special area of the terminal for security clearance. AFAIK, this arrivals place at Glasgow Airport is used exclusively for RoI originated aircraft.

Edinburgh has a specific arrivals area for RoI and Jersey flights also.

F.i.n.t.a.N.

muletide wrote:

of course it is and Northern Ireland is also a foreign country

why would you consider people with the same religious and political beleifs as foreigners?

ghostdancer

probably because legally they're not from the same country as us, they're from a foreign country, making them foreigners.



christ, this has been one of the silliest threads i've seen on here in a long time.

Gurgle

F.i.n.t.a.N. wrote:

why would you consider people with the same religious and political beleifs as foreigners?

Because they're from a foreign country maybe?

*damn, tried to apply logic to a political discussion on Boards, will I ever learn? :rolleyes:

F.i.n.t.a.N.

my Mother and Father are both from Northern Ireland, the last thing i think of them is a pair of foreigners.

Stark

Only because you're a foreigner.