UK Profile

What do you know about the land?
Present briefly each of the four parts that Britain consists of
How is the country ruled?
What kind of problems does it have to face?
What do you know/ how do you feel about the British?

Great Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island. With a population of about 59.6 million people in mid it is the third most populated island on Earth. Great Britain is surrounded by over 1,000 smaller islands and islets. The island of Ireland lies to its west. Politically, Great Britain may also refer to the island itself together with a number of surrounding islands which comprise the territory of England, Scotland and Wales.
The entire island is territory of the sovereign state of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and most of the United Kingdom's territory is in Great Britain. Most of England, Scotland, and Wales are on the island of Great Britain, as are their respective capital cities: London, Edinburgh, and Cardiff.

England:
Geographically covers 2/3 of the island which is almost 130 500 km2. Generally we could say that there are a lot of highlands - the highest mountain is called Scafell Pike in Cumbria which measures 978 metres. We can find a few national parks such as the Yorkshire Dales, Northumberland, and the Peak District. The Climate is very mild. In the winter, temperatures are not lower than 0°C and in the summer they are not higher than 32°C. England is constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy which means that the king or recently the queen represents country and its signing laws which come through the parliament. The economy is one of the largest in the world and because of that England is in group called G8 which means that it is one of the most advanced countries in the world. It prospers with software technologies, arms industry but also in making cars (Aston Martin). Christianity is the most widely practised religion in England, as it has been since the Early Middle Ages, although it was first introduced much earlier, in Gaelic and Roman times. It continued through Early Insular Christianity, and today about 71.6% of English people identify as Christians. The capital city of this country is London. The number of population is almost 51 000 000.

Wales
Total area covers almost 20 000 km2. The landscape is very upland (hornatá) with highest hill called Snowdonia which measures 1 085 metres. Wales has 14 or 15 similar hills known as Welsh 3000s. 3000 because these hills and peaks are measured in feet. On the east Wales has natural borders with England and on the west is surrounded by Irish and Celtic Sea. This country has National Assembly for Wales which represents Wales in British parliament (they own 40 seats). The economy was evolving very much in industrial revolution, mining gold, iron, silver or coal. We could say that today their economy faced to heavy industry. The capital city of Wales is Cardiff. The number of population is more than 3 000 000.
Scotland
The area covers 78 000 km2 (1x Czech rep.) and on the south borders with England and on the north with Atlantic Ocean and North Sea. The most of terrain is created Scots Highland with highest point called Ben Nevis. I must mention Loch Ness Lake which is famous for its Loch Ness monster also called “Nessie”. The law in this country is different from Wales because Scotland has its own independent political system with its own parliament. The Scots law is influenced by English law but the truth is that there are differences. Scotland has a western style open mixed economy with heavy industry on the first place including coal mining and steel industries. The capital city is Edinburgh. The number of population is more than 5 000 000.
Northern Ireland
The terrain is created by Mourne Mountains with the highest point called Slieve Donard (it has 848). The area is almost 14 000 km2 large. The government is similar to Wales; this means that they have 18 seats in British parliament. The economy is specialized to shipbuilding, rope manufacture and textiles. Irish are also famous for their whiskey named Tullamordue. The capital city is Belfast and the population reached over 1 800 000 people.
As I said, it’s a constitutional monarchy, with the Queen or King as the head of the state.  It’s also parliamentary and democratic system, which has been evolving for a long time. The UK is one of three states on the world that doesn’t have written constitution.
As in the most of the democratic countries the power in the UK is divided into three independent branches:
1.    The executive – the Ministers who run the country and propose new laws
2.    The legislative – the elected body that passes new laws
3.    The judicial power – the judges and the courts who ensure that everyone obeys the laws
The LEGISLATIVE power:  The Parliament - it has its seat in the House of Parliament in Westminster in London, it’s often called the Westminster. The parliament consists of two houses:
-    The House of  Commons - lower chamber, 646 seats and the MP are elected
-    The House of Lords - upper chamber, currently 747 members, the seats there were herited for a long time, now they are appointed by the queen and government
The British Crown: now it’s Queen Elizabeth II. – she has mainly a symbolical function ( she takes part at ceremonials, traditional celebrations,..); she appoints ministers, judges and governors and she sings the laws
As I said, here is the part when a bill (a proposed piece of legislation ) become a law, it has to passed the parliament and be signed by the queen
The EXECUTIVE power:  it’s represented by the government. The head is Prime Minister (the leader of the biggest party in the House of common). Now it’s Gordon Brown (The Labour party), he is living at 10 Dowing street). He chooses his government ministers, which is called cabinet
The JUDICIAL power: I am not going to talk about that; High Court of Justice.

political parties in the UK today:
                - The Conservative Party – right wing, they put more emphasis in private enterprise
                - The Labour Party – left wing, their program includes many social reforms and active social politics
-    The Liberal party
The royal family: Queen Elizabeth II. became Queen in 1952 - her husband is Prince Philip (Duke of Edinburgh), his oldest son is Prince Phillip, he married lady Diana, two sons – Prince William and Harry
Problems with other connected countries such as Scotland and it is Ireland still. Well there are two groups with different opinions - ones want to stay with UK and others not. First group named unionists has an advantage - their numbers are higher so even that is why today existing Northern Ireland. The second nationalists made a group called Sinn Fein - that means “We Alone”. Even today from time to time supporters of nationalists create a demonstration which usually ends by plundering (plení) or damaging cars and shops in the streets.
Personally, I like them very much because from Liverpool comes my favourite band called The Beatles - the most awesome music crew in the world. They started their career with song “Love me do” and continued over remake of old Rock N Roll songs such as “Twist and shout” or “I saw her standing there” to classic rock music like the whole album Abbey road from the year 1969 which contains songs like “Here comes the sun” or “Oh darling” or “Come together”.