Quote:
| Originally Posted by 6uldv8 This is something I have never understood. I was under the impression that Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England were individual countries. Why do they participate as one nation at the Olympics? |
If only... not yet I'm afraid. Ireland is an independant country, they got that decades ago. Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland are not, although each have some form of devolved government.
I could go into a rant over how we have only been given our own parliament now that the heyday of North Sea oil has gone and Scotland isn't as big a resource as it once was (apart from dumping their irradiated shite in it). I never understood why the English caved into armed revolt in Ireland but ignored the Scots who largely protested within the law.
As for flags, it's not just the EU that are pompous.
Where I lived in the US, you could only fly a foreign nation's flag if you flew the US flag above it. We got bollocked by the coppers for flying a St Andrews cross (not a national flag as Scotland is not a sovereign nation), an Irish tricolor, an Aussie flag and a maple leaf. There wasn't any room for a bloody US flag left!!! I knew then it was time to leave...