
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- Duration: 5:15
- Updated: 15 Aug 2013
- published: 30 Jan 2011
- views: 4567733
- author: CGPGrey
When I think of it now that it's done
How it might've gone without a place to belong
I can see we played into their hands
And they picked our bones until we proved them wrong
It's only a moment
The minutes and hours, they fly from me now as then
It's all in the detail
I've been here before but still don't remember when
As we stared in the face of the storm
And the change began to gather over the bend
There was always a chance it would come
But if you can't make it happen nobody can
It's all but forgotten
The minutes and hours, they're nothing that can't be
bought
It's all in the detail
Lights are out on neon drive
Unprotected in my bed
Behind the walls it comes alive
Shoots again into my head
I see the red dust shadow
In the corner of my eye
Another child is calling
No, no, where did my daddy go
He's flown, I'm alone
When I grown up, I'll fly too
Take these things, fold your wings
Words can't bring you back
It's been this way forever
Everything I though was mine
Been haunted by reminders
Since nineteen-sixtynine
I keep the shadow walled in
In the deepest part of me
And still the child is calling
No, no, why did my daddy go
Away, none will say
When I wake up I'll know
Tears I tried so hard to hide
Always break inside
Take these things and fold your wings
The light that strikes against itself is hard as stone
A dream too many full of memories not my own
They're only shadows, they'll disappear
Their only destination: anywhere but here
There's nothing permanent below me and above
For every time it's all too much, it's not enough
We're unconnected, we're unafraid
We only miss each other from miles away
Tell me again, am I the same when I'm not there?
Gone in a second, impossible to bear
Hard to remember the way I lived outside
Stronger than friction until our worlds collide
These hands are useless, not even mine
They do not serve me, they lose the line
I have my version of vital signs
But there are complications of a different kind
Tell me again, am I the same when I'm not there?
One single moment and changed beyond repair
Hard to remember the way I lived outside
Stronger than friction, the balanced will until our
worlds collide
Noone ever thought about it
Noone had the will to wonder why
Only you refused to die
Now there is no isolation
Keeping the experience at bay
Any time, any day
It brings me to my senses, this poison in my side
The raging heart defenses a turning tide
Seen upon the television screen
'Cross the boundaries of my head
Entertained by the dead
Stayed awake to make the morning
But it came too little and too late
Take your time, I can wait
Is this thing going to kill me
And tear my soul apart
If not, it never will be
The one to break my heart open
You're really something good, what's got into you?
This is the consequence of what you've led us to
These views are shaped by thoughts which you have never
owned
You take all my opinions, claim them as your own
I don't expect you'll ever let yourself be told
No easy way to say it, you've been bought and sold
Who'll defy me now
And chase the lightning all to soon
What kind of mercy will you gain
Under the shadow of the moon
The shadow of the moon above
And when you know what it's about
You'd stand upon a hollow heel
Those empty eyes look in, not out
Seeing the water deep and still
Something's up on the northern skyline
Angels descending from their gallery on high
Rally around me slowly
Angels with dirty faces
Leaving their lipstick trace across the human race
Heavenly host unholy
Walking the wire, I jump the gun
Some of us fly too close to the sun
Gone are the days when Heaven could wait
Thought there was time but now it's too late
So when you hear the angels sing
Get ready to spread your wings
How the hell am I going to do this?
Heavenly bodies multiplying through the mist
Steadily swell their numbers
Under celestial orders
Ascending the clouds right up into the stratosphere
Marching us down to Slumbertown
Walking the wire, I'm taking aim
Keeping my tail ahead of the game
Gone are the days of Heaven's Lament
Satellite plays the whole event
So when you want to take them higher
Get ready to open fire
In Arcadia, all they've made of light is shade
A halcyon retreat now frayed
Stay together in a hell for leather world
Torn apart by angels and their battlecries
Walking the wire, I jump the gun
Some of us fly too close to the sun
Gone are the days when Heaven could wait
Thought there was time but now it's too late
So when you hear the angels sing
When the feeling takes me over, what else can I do but run?
Through the corridors I follow, I shoot into oblivion;
If you close your eyes and listen, you can hear the children play,
I love it when their eyes are watching, I'll have it when they disobey.
It's a different kind of loving, such a dirty rigmarole,
But just in case there's no tomorrow, I'll dring fire from their souls;
If you close your eyes and listen, you can hear the children shout,
I hate it but I win't be happy till I've turned them inside out.
All day long, here I go!
I'm reeling, fighting for breath
Running on empty
A fortress carved out of steel
Black and surrounding
No other survivors, the walls without end,
So where have I come to?
Welcome, hero, to Ryker Skies
Where all your hopes are stored
You can leave responsibilities in ruins at the door
Get it knocked into your thick skull
It's really not that hard
It's a cast iron binding covenant
And this is just the start
There are insults and injuries
You've heaped upon yourself
But you play the victim
While you pile the blame on someone else
So before I state my intention to live or die
I command your total attention
In Ryker Skies
They're unspoken, these accidents,
They leave a bitter twist
It's a no-win situation
But I know you can't resist
In walks trouble without a sound
A deal across his face
He's a won't-stop, screwtop work of art
Mechanical disgrace
So be sure you cast not a shadow
As you walk by
No, you won't be chasing no rainbows
In Ryker Skies
You'll never fly
There was a time, it flashed on by
Nohing to break the iron crown
Tearing imagination down
Strung out and overwhelmed
I've had more than enough
The wings of butterflies are made of sterner stuff
With all those years to kill
I'm yours until...
So before I state my intention to live or die
I command your total attention
In Ryker Skies
You'll never fly
There was a time, it flashed on by
Say awhile, when I'm not alone
I forget all the anger in me
Kiss a tear when the hammer falls
They're holding me here in never ending circles
I can still remember summer madness
I can taste the perfume on your cheek
The heat is overcome by coldness--How
Consoling words are insignificant
Say you'll pray
Justify the actions
These are days of the mob-rule, sharp tongue, curfew
When the mind is in solitary confinement--
Makes the mood that breaks you
There's a spirit seeking liberation
Here's a fire with a hungry heart
If I listen maybe, time will tell me
The reasons why we're torn apart
As the years go by
Don't make any false promises
As the years go by
Say you'll pray
Here the silence is too loud
In a steel barred jail on the other side
We invented the differences
That weaved the web with which we lied
Caught in the middle of a cold war zone
I left my lover in a far-off place
She'll kiss a tear when the hammer's falling
And wipe the darkness from my face
As the years go by
Don't make any false promises
As the years go by
I may be wrong
But the miracle that I prayed for is here,
Could be illusion, maybe some trickery,
I don't know why
I'm scoring the angels,
Counting all the thousand days,
There were so many tears
So many times, wasting away,
So what about the thousand days?
We miss the reason because of what we are,
I fall silent with you,
The gash I know is getting obvious
The blood of ages from
Scoring the angels,
Guaranteed for all we know
There were so many tears
So many times, wasting away
So what about the thousand days?
I swerve the engine, the balance disappears,
While i'm sleeping
I'm scoring the angels
Counting all the thousand days
There were so many tears
So many times, wasting away.
So what about the thousand days?
====================================================================
Don’t want to lead a revolution
Let another go ahead
Don’t have a need for elocution
No desire to raise the dead
You can’t avoid the circulation
Amend the circumstance
Don’t want to lose the combination
Still want to hold it in my hands
Can’t see around this tunnel vision
From inside of what I’ve found
When I was wracked with indecision
When my hide was hunted down
Under a moon of innovation
A many-splendoured thing
I need the company I’m keeping
And I feed the hunger
Something happened inside and I can’t explain it
I’m in a critical way
When I didn’t believe it I couldn’t see
Now I live a life in a day
All at once she is gone again when I turn back
Cracking up, more than I can take
Make it come right
--Instrumental--
And I’m dead on my feet, hesitating and down
In a dangerous mood where I shouldn’t remain
Straighter than a narrow never-ending emotional ride
(Raining from the harder sky)
Waiting for survival, are there no words left to right?
Don’t want them anymore
And now something I couldn’t hide has happened inside
And taken the meaning away
When I didn’t give in I couldn’t begin
Now I live a life in a day
Something happened inside and I can’t explain it
I’m in a critical way
When I didn’t believe it I couldn’t see
Now I live a primitive life in a day
Sightless, he watches the columns collide
As he wanders the canyons relentlessly wide
Empires are burning, the rain cuts his skin
And in every direction the sound closes in
Time, only time, have I
And already I'm not okay
He falls in with the unwashed and unfed
He will sleep for the first time, no crib for a bed
In these extraordinary lanes
He is blind again, unaware still
From the greatest height and to furthest end
Without association, he will bend
And walking with the wounded, old and thin
Made to be paraded, bring the misfit in
How to overpower the avenues of steel
In my illusion, what of this is real?
Sleepless incidental, what I really need
Is how to now avoid the full stampede
I'm only taking time
And I'm not where I want to be now
I'm cold and unapproachable
Deceptive and a fraud
Don't need to keep attention
I hate to be ignored
The soul of no discretion
Belligerent, won't think outside the box
I'm critical and careless
My open mind is shut and firmly locked
I'm selfish and insensitive
I'm rotten to the core
Pretentious and derivative
You've seen it all before
My good contributions
Are counted on the fingers of one hand
No New Year's Resolution
Nothing ever goes the way I planned
My catalogue of failures
Is etched upon my lips
The baggage that I carry
Would sink a thousand ships
My motives are uncertain
Intentions not altogether pure
So now don't you want me deside you
Just like it was before ?
I'm stupid, inarticulate
My ego grows and grows
Libido turns to celibate
I don't know where it goes
No lifelong performance
Prepares me for the final curtain call
I swear no allegiance
No loyalty to anything at all
You, like me, were raised to be
A million times admired
Unlike mine, our family line
Garden over me, the secret I love most,
God and Man agree to giving up the ghost,
High above the moon, the sun has left the sky,
I would love to know if you're the reason why.
Garden under me, the naked and the dead,
I can still remember everything we said,
Higher, higher now than I have ever been
More than meets the eye than mine have ever seen.
Garden over me, you never know the grief,
Hide this side away to satisfy belief,
I can't stand the agony of nothing new,
When the soft white belly enters into you
I go down
The ribbon wrapped a gun, I blinded everyone,
Collected underground, now I'm up I'm down
It isn't how you lie, it's in the way you're mine,
How was I to know the nerves would overflow?
I want to see you, I want to touch you
I want to feel the breathing changing.
I want to be you, to be inside you,
To pull you under, get you fighting.
Unsodden even the water leaking,
Don't want to hear the widow speaking,
And just to know if there could be something,
You couldn't get that, yeah...
Ah, you fools, don't you see?
He's darker than he's going to be,
The state I'm in, hollow bone,
Diamond hard heart of stone.
Lost in love, senses flown
Diamond hard heart of stone.
====================================================================
Belly first, unrehearsed, I’m thrown from all I’ve
known
A silhouette set among the badlands paved with stone
Photographs, fingerprints, fragile refugee
Higher rise fire in the sky society
Can I hold on, can I believe in
All the things you are?
There’s no sane in, chaos reigns in Subterranea
Cadillac heart attack, back of this beyond
Pusher king, TV queen, accommodating blonde
At Traitor’s Gate while you wait gender reassigned
Surgeon carves the matching halves
The blindfold leads the blind
Can I hold on? I cannot count them
All the things you are
Were I stronger I’d hold out longer in Subterranea
Without the walls, comfort is freezing in my veins
And caught within chemical rain
My dreams have turned against me
And fatally have fenced me in
Above me cold light and below me over all
The time I‘ve lost, how can I know?
So I keep forgetting what I am half recalling
On a bed of fallen flowers
Hold me now as I was held before
Powerhouse, sacred vows, trigger happy punk
Driven by hidden eyes and figure hugging junk
Heaven knows if I’m close, am I unreleased?
If I’m in hell I may as well be famine to the feast
Can I hold on, can I belong to
All the things you are?
There’s no sane in, chaos reigns in Subterranea,
Subterranea, Subterranea
Mel and me, the railway children,
Played the disused line
Run through fields we'd kicked our shoes off
Drunk in air like sweet red wine
Together like suede and leather
No more easy come easy go
I remember the coalmine closing
Her father's face was a sight
Bringing up kids on a pittance. Wages?
Nothing's left by Saturday night
Those days will scar forever
No more easy come easy go
Melanie won't run-run-runaway
Melanie can't come she's got to stay
Worth her weight in gold ooh baby
I'm sold on sold on sold on you
Think of all tomorrow's parties
And giving it all away
There's nothing left here but muck-stack-Charlies
Let's make a run for it, what do you say?
You've got to make it happen
No more easy come easy go
Melanie won't run-run-runaway...
You're one in a million
You'll always come first
All the zeroes follow you
Melanie you've got to save yourself
This time take them for granted
No more easy come easy go
Melanie won't run-run-runaway...
====================================================================
Singing praises was never a feature
Encouraged in me or my kind.
Every time they remain with my hand to my mouth,
The crowded borders leave me colour-blind;
Pushing me for the death warmed up
And the flowers and fur to parade,
In the time that it takes for the ritual wake
They've broken all the promises they made.
I was driven away to distraction and
Couldn't see we were all laid to waste,
Never sleeping, I saw my abduction from
Solid areas fallen with grace.
I come drifting through the draughting
Dropping out of sight,
I'm not begging for love, I'm empty as I am.
I'm beginning to wonder is the ability too weak?
If this stark interior surrounds me, am I so unique?
Little blue souvenir to remind me of
Restless days when I should have said No,
And you know that I've nothing to share with you
For the chance of the love that we save:
I wanted to be magnificent
For the less-than-a-lifetime of mine,
I forget where I came in,
All I know there's no discipline now.
====================================================================
Helplessly held by the weeds, we are grown,
I tried talking sense to you, leave it alone;
I give in to the weight of the kick,
So weary of waiting and hoping for this,
The two of us alone, no-one else to see,
I promise not to miss you and no more jealousy.
Careful of my gender, it comes, how it goes,
Love me tender so nobody knows,
Nobody knows the trouble I seen,
Each time they asked, I said something obscene,
The splinters shower down, I shelter from the rain,
Against the grain, against the moon,
I waxes and I wanes.
No ecstacy sent for taking a line,
Right through the tokehead they rip, run and shine;
I awake and the feeling won't drop,
Each time they slam down, I swear I will stop,
The two of us alone, no-else to see,
The damage brings us closer to murder, can't you see?
Here in my rocking-horse house,
I keep the curtains drawn;
Inside my little head,
I hear them screaming out my name.
Here in my rocking-horse room,
I keep my syes shut tight:
Inside my peeping-holes,
I know that if they're empty I can sleep.
Don't you believe her, deliver a shiver to me,
Is this what you wnated?
I'm haunted, my eyes grown cold.
I still got second sight,
I still can see at night.
Here comes the enemy, the beast in me,
Alive a little more,
On my hard shoulder,
The warning goes deeper than before.
I still got second sight,
Through the stinging of the system
Wandering lonely as a cloud
Talking only in the open
Congregation is even now disallowed
Growing anger in the city
Banner headlines around the world
What has to be done is called reformation
To heal the rift of living apart together
Forgive them, they know not what they do
There's no love lost at all
Save them they rue the day when
They ever got involved
Even so I have a dream
Turning circles in my head
That they're closing down all the no-go areas
Opening one for them both instead
Forgive them, they know not what they do
There's no love lost at all
Save them God are you waiting open-armed?
All of the problems over the years
I'm sure can be sorted with peaceful solutions
My warm shoulder dries your tears
I want no more heartache
Oh for crying out loud
No point asking if you're leaving
Didn't I make that clear
If we agree to differ
The closer, I'm certain, we'll always feel
Forgive them they know not what they do
There's no love lost at all
Save them they rue the day when
Darker than the starlight gold,
Bearing down again to bury me in the air,
Suffer like a stained glass wire,
When the waves are gone, your eyes and fears,
I'll be there.
And if we can still believe in tomorrow,
Yesterday will disappear soon enough,
When it seems impossible to remember
How the world could be so proud of itself.
Into lives of violent ends,
She hides away, relies on night
All the time,
Holding out a hand to take, still awash in seas of ivory,
We steal away.
And it's such a lonely ride to tomorrow
Through the corners where the light never shows,
When it seems impossible to imagine
How the world could be so cold to itself.
And if we can still believe in tomorrow,
Yesterday will disappear soon enough,
When it seems impossible to remember
How the world could be so proud of itself.
====================================================================
I can feel the movement
Growing all around me everywhere
I can hear the language of the revolution every day
If you pledge to join me
We can fight for reason everywhere
All the things we wished for
Are ours for the asking anyway
Many years ago we lived here
All too soon our hopes were drowned
Now as if I never knew you
Life goes on in different towns
And I can walk round you, past you, through you
Because you're only ghosts now
Yes, I can walk round you, past you, through you
Because you're only ghosts now
Somehow in this silent city
A little of us still remains
Mingled with the distant laughter
Fused with dust in future rains
And I can walk round you, past you, through you
Because you're only ghosts now
Yes, I can walk round you, past you, through you
All my life I'm governed and controlled
At someone's beck and call
Made to walk a balanced line before I've even crawled
All the time I hungered for release
On independence day
Without a contact or a name, I waited anyway
Torn apart and written in the stars
More I cannot see
Blind enough to follow through
Unsupervised devotion
Forever I was losing sight, sound escaping
And all the world was turning upside down
For every move I tried to make when I was stranded
At least I'm standing on unsolid ground
--Instrumental--
All my live I'm governed and controlled
At someone's beck and call
Maybe there's no genius in having lived at all
All my life I'm taken by surprise
I'm someone's waste of time
Now I walk a balanced line
And step into tomorrow
Forever I was losing sight, sound escaping
And all the world was turning upside down
For every move I tried to make when I was stranded
The colour of the evening
With a sunset that bleeds
The fallen on the stony ground
Like so many seeds
We're taking the country
From border to shore
Like people used to tell me
All's fair in love and war
For we are soldiers
King for a day
Mountains to molehills
Peasants for pay
People would cry
If they'd seen what we've done
But we'll be war heroes
When we get home.
We came across the borderline
To another part of town
Her streets were deserted
As we tore the wire down
The women were screaming
As we came through the door
Like people used to tell me
All's fair in love and war
For we are soldiers...
King for a day
Mountains to molehills
Peasants for pay
People would cry
If they'd seen what we've done
But we'll be war heroes
When we get home.
You'd cry
If you'd seen what we've done
But we'll be war heroes
Are you inside, provider, or am I?
Immersed in all the darkness and decay
Denied the sleep to dream myself away
Said I was bright, to sensitive to fly
Can't tell you why you don't already know
He reins the horse for those I cannot see
Will I like him a gallant rider be?
The shadows fill the corners across the square
They come a-crawling to offer shelter, to haul me in
Without a needlepoint in the light
And the steel to still your tongue
The night hides a multitude of uncovered sins
The heart beating in Capricorn, I take on a guise
They won't define me anytime in the English rain
Will I feel an automatic release from all this pain?
With no movement, undiscovered, I lie in wait
So what if you're sentimental
And I'm out of tears, out of sympathy?
I'll make it look accidental
And I'll leave no sign to say your life was mine
No-one I think fell out of my tree
No-one I carried just the same
Thinner than most sinners and saints alive
Dare you speak my name?
So what if you're temperamental
And I'm out of tears, out of sympathy?
So what if I'm elemental?
Oh, oh
--Instrumental--
"Do you seek enlightenment
Are you to frightened to speak?
Short of experience here where the flesh is so weak
Trust in these hands, let them attend to you
We understand, we all intend for you
To stand among friends"
"Are you remembering
Do I revive your neglect, my one?
A price must be paid for your sin
And I'm here to collect
All that you are is all that you'll ever be
Unless on your hands and knees
You put all your faith in me"
Leave me alone, I don't belong here
I'm not your candidate, guaranteed failsafe
I'm on my own
--Instrumental--
I don't know, I don't know
Bible bashing fashion victim
Should have kicked him
When he couldn't get arrested
Uncontested will to carry on is gone
Inside his head, he's dead
He said, "I never was alive
I died with knives and nails and nightingales
This is all the anger I can hold"
Kennedy, remember me, I cannot bury you
Until I stare into the mouth of hell
Time alone will tell me how to
Spend the time alone without you
Listen to the songs about you, run for cover,
Gunners unrevealed will aim to please another son
I can't go on, help me make that Golden Dawn
Because for all we know we're done and dusted
Must it end like this, here and now, here and now?
I don't belong here
There's nothing now my eyes can recognise
I'm all wrong here, let me go, I'm not for changing
I don't belong here
I'm not your victim and I don't believe
I'm not strong here, no religion, nothing more
I'm telling you know, I'm not your candidate
Guaranteed failsafe
I'm caught in a headrush
In moods of don't disturb,I'm on edge and then
Afraid, I call for answers again and again
I keep on hoping that you'll do something real
Accept the consequence but you never will
I may have squandered it but what do I know ?
There's one good God above us, bad God below
I keep on hoping you'll remember me still
Admit I wasn't wrong but you never will
And there's no way? in a place of illusion pale as
glass
One day one thing is sure - this too shall pass
I'll stay, waiting the longest time
Until you come but you never will
Now as the shadows fall on Allhallows Eve
We spin our tangled web, learn to deceive
I keep on hoping that you'll do something real
Give in to influence but you never will
And there's no way, any time any place we'll meet again
One day with eternal evasion this will end
I'll stay, waiting the longest time
Until you come but you never will
This kind of living death is made in the mind
I find with these restrictions, I'm more deaf than
blind
No matter where I look, I'm under attack
Whichever road I took, I always came back
And there's no way, in a place of illusion pale as
glass
One day one thing is sure - this too shall pass
I'll stay, waiting the longest time
I am just a small town boy
But don't hold that against me
Mum's a lawyer, Dad's got a bank
But really I'm OK
Should I stop or should I go
I'm full of indecision
I'd throw it away for a dollar a day
If I could be like...
You made me promise not to mention
You can call round any time of day and see
Me and my family
These things are sent to try us
Or to land us in hot water
Turning grey as my Tube record plays
When I call you, come as you are
You don't need fancy cars or finery
You don't need a credit card to buy me
They'll never understand I bite the hand that's feeding me
Saying I must be mad--that's a matter of opinion
You, I'll give you all of my affection
You and I can celebrate defection
Get up and go tonight, I've seen the light that's leading me
Saying that I'll be back well that's a matter of opinion
We'll work we don't care how long it takes us
We'll save we'll buy that house on the hill some day
Never thought I'd be the black sheep of the family
Never thought I'd be the black sheep of the family
Control me, console me, conceive me, consume me
We all need some space
Just a little room to breathe
My girl friend sees me
I know that I couldn't do it alone
We will shine for you
Come and share the atmosphere up here, now that we're
Over, over the moon
It feels like we're in Heaven, Heaven
Over, over the moon
It feels like we're in Heaven now
Over, over the moon
It feels like we're in Heaven, Heaven
Over, over the moon
It feels like we're in Heaven now
Never thought I'd be the black sheep of the family
====================================================================
So baby, you don't have the time
Too busy, you can't see the crime
In keeping yourself to yourself
Well, girl
You don't look that good anyway
Persistence paid off in the end
She insisted we'd only be friends
That was then this is now one year later
It's not right, no not quite
All the lights are on but no-one's home tonight
Girl with a summer tan
Slips through my fingers like sand
All I wanted to see was you
Coming home to me
Smiled so wide I'm tearing my face
When she moved her stuff into my place
But all I see now are notes on a table
Yeah, I love you too
But what good does that do?
We gotta get together baby
Me'n'you
Girl with a summer tan...
I go crazy pacing the floor
Learn my lines
Then you walk through the door
When I see you it fires something in me
Your loving shows
I wanna burn these clothes
Take your right there where you're standing
Lace and all.
Girl with a summer tan...
====================================================================
If I won't live a lie it's in my self defence
That I remember hiding then
If I'm eroding all the innocence
Am I running rigid once again?
And he won't hear me now in the darkest hour
I'll never see him now
Oh I can take the mystery in the darkest hour
And he won't hurt me now
If we are lost in paradise
Our recollection all but gone
We will make the only sacrifice
For the strength to carry on
In spite of everything I recognise the end
And feel the scars that never heal
I keep the purity, buried as I am
In an effort to conceal
Don't underestimate what I've retained
All my souvenirs, forget-me-nots,
I'll pretend all you want me to
I won't believe it if you don't
Burn it up again, it's here and I've
Let it live through other stolen lives
Save your hollow breath
Feast your tired eyes
You need protection as well as I
Nothing any good ever came from me
Thought I could run you in the ground
What do I do, what kind of fool
Covers you like an animal?
Out of the way,
I'm anyone wilder than you are
Anyone who ever had a heart
Wouldn't deny me
Woe betide the one, not to be outdone,
Who will remember all that stuff,
Didn't I say it then enough?
If I could let it be, I would
Start it again, when does it end?
I'm in there somewhere
Nobody can carry me over
Now the dead winds have blown
With the cold rains
If I should fall from your side
Keep it in your mind
How I tried to keep him here
How I promised he'd be safe
And he never said a word
And he never cried
Another day leads me on
And I will follow
Whatever it takes now, I'll do
If it's over
And he won't hurt me now, I know
When I'm losing all the power
And he won't hurt me now
Weird scenes are coming through the airwaves
From a flickering tube
An old film with an older theme
And those actors could be us
But the ending is good so I'm thinking
"There's the rub"
Later when we meet
It's emotion going through the motions
A kick to break up or a kiss to make up
But then there'll be another scene
Like the one yesterday
When we say hello, we mean goodbye
Feigning paradise, wanting to cry
Love, all our passion I'm sorry to say
Is part of the game we play
So we're into action on cue
And go spinning like a reel
Summing up this relationship
And the way I feel
I think maybe we should go on out
Into the moonlight, out of the spotlight
And examine where we are and where we've been to
Where we're going is down without a happy ending
When we say hello we mean goodbye
Feigning paradise, wanting to cry
Love, all our passion I'm sorry to say
Wakes up forgotten, makes up his mind
Sets out to question if he's one of a kind
On and on, want to feel somehow
Somewhere in time
You’ll see it all the way that I do now
Gives in to impulse, reaches in between
Gets back a notion, still remembers a dream
Gone again and I don't know how
Some other time
You’re going to look like I do now
--Instrumental--
Sprawls across the walkways, recalls another place
Finds the faces hidden, no names upon a stone
Raises up his fever, he rails against the skies
Careless what he wishes for
And what he’s always known
On and on, want to feel somehow
Somewhere in time
You’ll see it all the way that I do now
In and out of daylight, hung on for dearest life
Stumbles on misguided, is rousing from a sleep
On the street civilians display a common band
Roaring like a cry from Heaven seven thunders deep
Gone again and I don't know how
Some other time
You’re going to look like I do now
So many held in firm array, each one anonymously field
In every kind of every way and every mother’s only
child
And all the time identified, it's hard to take it in at
There must be many more besides
Those to watch us while we’re sleeping
So many here, so many held
Aligned and catalogued for good
And punching in and punching out
The empty voices keep repeating
"I don’t live on the outside
I’m provided for in here now
Love us where we stand, lead us through this land
We all know the score, that’s what living’s for"
Here we are
Alive and free
Far away in time from our darkest day
That took our young and brave
From the cradle to the grave
70 years ago on July one 1916 on the Somme
The enemies had never seen fighting like this before
Such a simple plan--
How could any german man
survive through that ordeal?
Company 'A' to Company 'B'
"Morale is high here, sir, but I don't think it's safe to go"
Company 'A' from Company 'B'
"Mister you have your orders and you must obey"
So the first line rose, and the first line fell
And a poet who survived later wrote about
A "Sunlit vision of Hell"
And "Larks singing"
Because after all it's just another summer's day in France
And the Tommies on the Somme sang
"We are fighting to turn no-man's land into a common ground"
Sooner or later
Ready or not
We find ourselves dissolved in soil
The big sleep state
I don't worry
When you got to go you got to go
But wouldn't it be nice to have a say
In our final day
When I take my dying breath
You'd better bet your life I'm going out
Screaming
Like I came in
Screaming
Love and emotion
We're told will keep us sheltered
From the threat of the bear
But danger is everywhere
So take my hand now
As they adopt their fighting stance
Parade our derision
And assume the position, configuration
When I take my dying breath
You'd better bet your life I'm going out
Screaming
Like I came in
Screaming
I want to be the first to go, to test the water
I miss those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
In our younger phase
All the things I took for granted but most of all
When I take my dying breath
You'd better bet your life I'm going out
Screaming
Like I came in now
Stop your tears from hiding,
See them mesmerise your skin,
It's all that I can do to keep away from going in,
I fed the ghost of plenty as the perfume turned to grey,
If life is still worth living, how come I feel afraid?
One day, some day, I will take from the air,
The only way out, I can't deny the honesty,
I want to stay but it's more than me
I'm losing all the reason, keep forgetting what I've said,
Oh I try to bring it closer but there's nothing in my head,
I don't believe in ever and I don't believe in now,
If life is still worth living, how come I feel alone?
Suddenly, if it comes then I'm gone
Whey don't you talk to me, see I'm not your enemy?
I am right by your side,
I want to stay but it's more than me.
Each time you go down, don't forget to remember
Everything is easy, most of all believing,
It will take you over, it will bring you down,
It's hidden in the language, it's in the words I say (I say so).
====================================================================
Across the plateau no clouds storm the sky,
Above the riverbed the world's run dry,
I beat the air, for those who hear,
And through the night my call goes out unheard,
I cry for company and get no word,
The silent groan, God only knows,
I stand alone.
The wind devides the empty shells below,
Deep in the valley night begins to grow,
The memory, the best of me,
From out the shadows something takes my hand,
To lead me homeward through a foreign land,
The silence grown, the palest eyes,
I'm the only one.
A mother's son, a father's pride,
How can I run and where to hide?
I close my eyes and hope tonight,
My healing flesh will be all right;
A baby cries, another ghost,
A different side to claim the most,
My blood gone black and down to dust,
So save my soul or let me die,
I'm still alive.
I'm on the other side,
Shaken down, lovely but cockeyed,
No wonder I feel nervous,
Lord, they don't deserve us anyway.
I want to burn these wings,
You can see how it's happening,
Still they're telling me to smack the enemy,
It's killing time!
I should have known before,
Only bad's half as good as dead,
I can't go any faster, stuck like alabaster,
White as I know.
We stand in lines of old, staying cold,
Swallow all the anger,
Releases get away, coming down,
Across the fields of amber,
To the water, ocean far below.
As the mirror to the sun,
The colour of the evening, never let go,
Hold my stomach, keep it tight,
They're pulling out the breathing, let it go;
If you ever change your mind,
Don't be caught alone, no, it's only me,
With all the hopes and fears combined,
It's hard to care for living anymore,
I wouldn't let you down again.
Inspired by hunger, fired by lust,
I sold the children's faces, painted gold,
Something moving taking hold,
Is gathering but never growing old,
I did everything I could just to say,
Believe me, you're not alone,
But with the winter in my bones,
Oh what else can I do now?
It's only me,
I wouldn't let you down again.
Break back to back lately,
Oh and how they moved when I was
younger than this,
Get my spirit caught beneath the surface,
SDee me play dead today,
I love my daydreams, leave my doldrums,
Armies of priests
All come to practice their party pieces,
Pounding like metal from side to side,
To shoot, to save,
And risk that horizon,
No smoke can shield, it stays unhealed,
Safe in our stillness,
At last we see him rise from out the earth.
I set the silhouette that leaves me scarred,
Lost my condition from the perfect star,
I caught the fire, can't help but see,
There's none to carry on.
I knew these plains before the world was mine,
With no escape in mind, I'll be resigned,
Inside alone, I know for sure,
Break out the waters, waiting for anything to come,
Hold on forever, Hell below and Heaven dead ahead,
Don't ever change your way.
Burn down the prison, stay in the balance of the wire,
Hold on forever, only you can turn that lethal level,
I'll keep you safer than sound.
Even the rain won't fall in a straight line:
Take it from me, you'll find that the pulses shine.
I take the strain, let go the millions of us,
The whole divide, it wasn't easy, I want to stay.
"You're not alone, so don't look back,
You better see it's getting black,
You're not alone, surrender now,
You're going to fall in line, you better learn this time":
I'm trying to get there, I'm falling from nowhere.
====================================================================
Out of a time when way back when
Disregarding discipline
Should have never given in
And I really should have known
Some are born into their lives
With a need to be destroyed
It's the wrong thing on my mind
The only thing we can't survive
Standing in the line of fire
Innocently dumb
They're in my head and still they come
Out of nowhere
Is there something
Something more than this?
Inner tension settled with a kiss
What a time to bump and grind
What a daydream, looking back
Never a worry in the world
For the cutter in the pack
I don't understand this pain
And I never will
The scene is gone and here they are
Out of nowhere
Is there something
Something that I've missed
It's going to happen and I can't resist
If I believed a single word
I would hesitate as well
Making Heaven out of Hell
All it takes is everything
I want to raise you up and see
There's something in your eyes
But every time I try, they come
Out of nowhere
Is there something
Something more than this?
Inner tension settled with a kiss
Is there something
Something that I've missed?
I. First Of The Last
Long before the living past
Had ripped it all apart
Something still remained
Until It flashed back to the start
Where it stands, nobody saw
Behind the blackest eyes
Show them how you're stronger now
It pays to advertise wisely
Day after day with you in my head
I said some things I shouldn't have said
For reasons unknown that I now forget
I gave you no love, which I now regret
What I'd give to hear again
Those everlasting songs
Why did all the accidents
Contrive to fall at once?
Only day after day
with you in my thoughts
I never knew time was so short
For once in my life I wasn't alone
With blood on my hands,
How could I have known?
Used to be the great white hope
Once I walked on water
Now I barely stay afloat
Balance out of order
With every sympathy worn away
Who can I return to now?
For the time that I have left
I scan that cold horizon
Searching for a kindred soul,
Someone to rely upon
We disconnected and Heaven sent
Sheltered in dead air,
Hidden everywhere
II. The Wrong Host
The sky lights up above America
The world is lost but loves America
When the eyes of children
See the ones left standing
And the rest begin to finally understand
The hand of God defends America
And who would not defend America?
We've got light on our side
We're in pole position
So praise the Lord
And raise the ammunition high
Raise it high
Hide where you can
We will shoot you where you stand
I've walked a million miles
Upon an open road
And once in every while
Without the will to carry on
Hours held me too long
In one location
An old familiar tale,
A glory to behold
A work of genius,
The greatest story ever sold
As you sign on the line,
As you do what you're told
All you sell is your soul
I've been this way before
I've seen it many times
Collision on the track
The fiction turning into fact
No-one dares to look back
Best you start to prepare
For the harvest ahead
All you lose is yourself
III. Nocturne
I'm brought to life with a series of shocks
I realise that you are gone from my life
And still I cling to the fear of the dark
Don't follow them for
they don't care how you are
And I'm finding a way of being
Accepting life all alone
And I'm hoping I'll wake up seeing
A way to live on my own
It wasn't hard to believe in the lie
Although I've come to know it wasn't my fault
Why does the world continue to spin
While everything around me grinds to a halt?
And I'm finding a way of being
Accepting life all alone
And I'm hoping I'll wake up seeing
A way to live on my own
IV. Frame And Form
Mine is a real fine line
I get harder the higher I climb
Shine like a star so bright
Anybody can see anytime
No-one will want to follow
This will be gone tomorrow
We enter an age of permanent doubt
Where we communicate without words
But I must be heard
So I cut through the smoke and the noise
Mine is a real fine line
It imagines it's one of a kind
Goodbye to all expression
Farewell to superstition
We enter an age of permanent doubt
Where we communicate without words
And the noise expands
As it covers the lie of the land
Shine like a star so bright
Till we shut out the light,
Put out the fire
Cut through the smoke and the noise
Lately I've been talking to myself
Been remembering and doing little else
The road ahead is anything but clear
Last time around, where did we go from here?
V. Mortal Procession
What about some golden hours?
I was alive, certainly you were wrong
Anyone can be pursuaded
Given the time, we all scream alone
What about this good for nothing season again?,
Everything's come and gone
And I can't believe that I'm not watching you
I'm in a sorry state
Return to ordinary thoughts now
If you can
The words I hardly understand
Gather 'round me while I wait
What about those colder rewards
Arming against lost intelligence?
Anyone who saw me crawling there
would have known that I was normal once
Return to ordinary thoughts
Too young to take the stand
But old enough to kill anyone
In the days when love divided up the looks
No drastic means were used
like rod and hooks
To enhance what nature's sculptor
had designed
No augmentation needed to refine
In the valley of the dollar, we rejoice
For plastic is the currency of choice
And beauty born is strictly for the birds
Your cash is fine but credit is preferred
When I held myself aloft,
I walked across the water
Now I barely cut across,
Lives are getting shorter
And they open up another door
To a border far below
For the time that I'm allowed,
There's a new horizon
But a soul as cold as ice
Is nothing to rely upon
If I'm hanging onto angels' wings
Then I'm safer in the air
Do I still qualify, suspended from on high?
No other sanctuary have I
VI. Ghosts Of Days
And when the eyes of children
See past the ones left standing
And the time has surely come
To understand who we are
Slowly the fires are burning
Bearing their silent witness
And the living past returns
It burns when it's died
Runs down my side
Before the dawn
Robs me of the dark
I will remember
I never ever
Thought for one second
It would take me over underwater
King of fools, you’ll never bring him back
He’s got them where they want him
Hanging high, is this the way it ends?
On bended knee, not with a bang
But with a fatal kiss, I won’t twist again
For you can bend me, shape me
Won’t escape me
Now I’ve got the reason for the rhyme
Skintight stupid substitute
You don’t come close, no sense pretending
Dr Seuss’s golden goose is
Too seductive, too demanding
Idle handsome fascist with his
Love-me-love-my-velvet-fist attention
Never meant to leave me
She blacks and blues
She wear new bruise
'Cause he beat her senseless
He hit the booze
Whenever she's
prey to his disease
She take some beating
Fall to her knees
It's only love, he told me so
He's coming home to my bed
I wouldn't bleed if only he'd
leave me along now and then
When did it start?
I can't recollect
I'm still alive,
if a little wrecked
He makes it so i'm
so old before my time
He comes from behind
it helps him to unwind
It's all right, love, he told me so
He's promised me no more pain
I wouldn't bleed if only he'd
Is it me that you're speaking to ?
Can you really put me down ?
Do you know the things to say ?
What will happen in the meantime ?
Are you telling me the truth ?
Can you really put me down ?
Would you bother if you could ?
What will happen if you do ?
What will happen to my friends
Will they be the same as you ?
Can you tell me if I'm wrong ?
Hard on my heels I feel him
From dusk till dawn he stands
Astride the elevation, avoiding confrontation
In this infernal chorus
He follows where I lead him under the ground
Who watches he who watches?
No-one above suspicion
I want an explanation, one final word of wisdom
"Said you were bright-eyed wonder
Set you up right, you're finally where you belong"
--Instrumental--
I am your murdering Angel of Death
I will despise you until your last breath
When I cut into you, will you not bleed?
Decidedly you will provide what I need
Give me a focus now, give me a name
Who is responsible, who do I blame?
Back to your maker, return to his side
Unresurrected, unrecognised
To be where once they met
One who comes to lay the past to rest inside
One who can't forget
Yesterday the heroes of the hour
Who survived those who fought and lost
Standing at the moment of release they pause
To count the dreadful cost
My life is out of condition
I've held it together myself the best I can
I'll never feel this way again
After all this time we've been apart
Still now I wonder where you are
No-one understands how close you came to us
No-one knows how far
This time it's harder than ever
I've weathered the storm and I kept you safe and warm
I'll never feel this way again
Oh, my angel in black water
All your heartache soon be over
Oh, my baby, rest you well
Cathedral that man created, you're weighted down by a jealous sound
Bewildered and dislocated, your soul deflated and gone to ground
Nobody, no final direction, no way to connect in this heavier state
The lives that we never remember are heading us out to another mistake
It's with me, it's waiting for me as Heaven is calling us to our knees
And there in the seventh house lie the seventy-five figures such as these
I'm all out of random
Sentenced by madmen who have abandoned me
What chance of survival?
I've had an eyeful more than I cared to see
And if I forget you or if I let you fall under someone's spell
Nobody can blame you, put out the flame, you kept it alive so well
What web are we weaving?
Nothing achieving, are you receiving me?
So far out in the ocean, stuck in emotion on an unending sea
And if you forget me, don't ever let me under your broken wing
Nobody can know you kept it below you, I never felt a thing
What a way to go
How did all the dreaming in my life arrive at such a bitter end?
On the rooftops draped in black, denial stopped me in my tracks
By the fearful light of dusk, this position I defend
All around the sky is cracked, won't somebody send me back?
Fourteen hundred hours, won't forget that day
Coal-black sky, the earth a hundred shades of grey
In the aftermath, as silent as the grave
I alone remained, no other soul was saved
Faces turning over
Limbs that shake without a conscious kind of movement now
For all their tomorrows we gave our last day today
In a future all their own
Documents reveal patriotic zeal
Singing to remember, drinking to forget the lie
All the name beyond recall
Empty politics in houses one to six
Locked and barred against the memory
My life is out of condition
I've held it together myself the best I can
I'll never feel this way again, again
These are the lives we are measured by
Heaven help us to answer why
Every minute of every day they die
Waiting and wondering all alone
Silent voices across the land
Speak in tongues they can never understand
Nameless and wandering far from home
Always held in the seventh house
Divided by loyalty, surrounded by emotion
Nobody under here remembers any mercy at all
We stay down
Deciding the borderline
Maya, did no-one tell you?
I couldn't have made you mine
'Cause I feel your pain more than my own
All the love gone astray
There will be hell to pay this time
For those of us born to die
There'll be none to testify
Time and time again I skin the world, keel it over
Spinning on its side, beginning as it ended
Through these diamond eyes
Maid of Morphine settled in my side
Did she intervene
Well, I'm the cleanest that I've been
Don't know where I know you from
Time and time again I've lived enough in silence
It's getting harder now to keep the violence in me
Someone I once was, raised upon a gallant rider's knee
Mortal memories lost among the unrecalled
Set the cross of fire (if I live)
These are the only ones (if I've loved)
Remember who they are
If I look, I see them everywhere
Don't know where I know you from
Don't know where I know you from
Don't know where I know you from
Don't know where I know you from
Told me, go the way of your heart
I'll be waiting for you
But wherever you are, you're not inside me now
Told me, try to sleep, I will come
But I'm still waiting for you
And wherever you are, I'm still inside you now
I'm never going to cut through without you now
If I get ascension or die
All the love that was mine denied
All the love that you qualified
Like a desert I'm open wide
There's nowhere for me to hide at all
For your love, I can never go back
--Instrumental--
Every one of us is herded and contained
Not a single one invited
Voices circulate around the musty hall
And the kerosene's ignited
Through the rising flames that lick against the flesh
Incandescent in the crossfire
Do my eyes betray the longest night of all?
Do I see or dream of Maya?
But he's got us where he wanted us to be
Undivided, under control
As the narrow margin finds us face to face
As he laughs across the foxhole
--Instrumental--
Nowhere was ever safe enough for all of us
No one contender cared about getting out
Tied now behind the hungry fire meant for us
Scattered like dust and finally free
Held together by fear
I can't be the same, too much has changed
Undeniably real and it's better left unsaid
All the love you said was nothing
Find a rhinestone not a diamond
I never wanted this
Left alive and laid to rest
Told me I was brighter than most
And I believed it all then
Through the dangerous times
I needed more than cold eyes
I want to be alone
To dream myself away from darkness and decay
As I try to forget it
No-one entered into my mind more than Maya
Someone she believed I could be is burning in me
Now I want to be alone like a stronger man
Then I can understand
As I try to remember where I know you from
Ignited by the realizing eyes
Unwrapped around the solitary sound
A failing voice is railing under walls
Collapsing on the unfamiliar ground
O, empty heart, am I the only one?
On pins alone or are we many born?
Well, either way, you are what you've begun
And by the way, I never did you wrong
Nothing here is guaranteed, nothing's understood
Now that I am far beyond beginning to belong
Maybe I don't understand the sequence as I should
Can't tell left from right from wrong
God from bad from good
For all you know, for all you made of me
It's hard to keep the skin from tender bone
No earthly ties to hang me from on high
I wait beneath your overcrowded skies
Nothing here makes any grade
There's nothing I can do
Fed and watered though I was barely half alive
Time enough to tire me out but now I'm sleeping
I've lost the sense in sanity
Even after all the day are gone
Even though the writer knows he's wrong
Still the words are written and recalled
In the empty isolated halls
Held in high regard, he comes again
Surface gone from under me, no more security
The future lies erased
These are the last remaining days
If in doubt the meaning meant
Make his one decision your defence
Stay alive to calculate the dead
Lines of colour radiate ahead
Silence now descends upon the earth
Can't deny the evidence
Not now, not even once
The future lies erased
There are the last remaining days
Surface gone from under me, no more security
The future lies erased
There are the last remaining days
The only thing I'll take
While I'm alive and half awake
Is what I've made, no surrender set to fade
The only thing I want is taken out and rained upon
Heart beaten down
No surrender to the sacred sound
When the vision cuts across the sky
There is no reflexion in my eye
All the undertakers talk the same
Saving of independence form anew
Can't deny the evidence, not now, not even once
The future lies erased
These are the last remaining days
The only thing I'll take
While I'm alive and half awake
Is what I've made, no surrender set to fade
The only thing I want is taken out and rained upon
Heart beaten down
No surrender to the sacred sound
Light shatters the skeleton circus
And the carnival's deadly host
No memory, nothing remembered
From the pages of the Book of Ghosts
Though the system stays in place
What if I'm not longre safe ?
Night falling gathers at my heels
Lines the contours of the cold parade
Search everywhere, nothing is revealed
Fear creeps along the cavalcade
Through the fields of evergreen
Passintg by as if unseen
Though the system stays the same
What if I'm no longer same ?
The only thing I'll take
While I'm alive and half awake
Is what I've made, non surrender set to fade
The only thing I want
Is taken out and rained upon
Heart beaten down
Where do I start ?
This thing's tearing us apart
Nothing is clear
Where do we go from here ?
No wonder in sight, not even the blackest night
So where do I start ?
It only remains to empty this heart
Everything I came to trust slipped away
I resisted the call to arms, feet of clay
Now when I sleep
I reach for the book I keep
In my hour of need
I turn to the pages no-one will read
Everything that I came to trust slipped away
I live through this a thousand times every day
All this time that I've held in suspension
And unable to make myself heard
I can't hold back the tide of erosion
And the vision that haunts me is blurred
Been as cold as I can since who knows when
Would that I could feel now as I did then
Get in out of the light, avoid the glare
Lost and out on a limb, miles from anywhere
All the time that I'm held in suspension
And unable to make myself heard
I can't hold back the tide of erosion
And the vision that haunts me is blurred
Everything that I came to trust slipped away
I resisted the call to arms, feet of clay
Everything that I came to trust slipped away
What began as hope
Became the fate of many nations
Founded on a lie believed by everyone
Slandered and betrayed
A character assassination
Watch the guilty fade
Now the work is done
Ghosts of early days
Gather round the later rivals
All parade upon the earth to which they're bound
Silent in their course
They steal across the icy stations
Words are useless now
They fall upon the ground
One and the same, parallels remain
In air as in the flame
I can see everything get closer everyday
Hold on, when I'm dead and gone from you
Remember me as light breaking through
Stay strong, any time you feel you're lost
I will carry you back across
Call out, send the word from there to here
Promise you I'm always near
Know now, nothing anyone can say
Will keep me from you anyway
And in the end
When other days have passed you by
If beauty has a name
Waiting beneath the ruby sky
One and the same
Wanting to keep the pain away
In errors made again
There's nowhere I'd rather be
'Cause no-one can mean more to me
In tenements racked against the wind
Our desperation reined us in
You drifted so far out of range
I held on but everything changed
How can you be everywhere at once
But nowhere to be found?
Imagine all you could have been
Eventually you would have seen
The wanderlust
And all you dared to dream of
If ever you make one fatal mistake
You broke me, you have no idea
In darkness I see more than hear
Impossible, even I can say
Many would have walked away
A lifetime of living a lie
Like daylight shot out of the sky
So did the truth ever set you free?
Got nothing but that hold on me
Remember all the promises you planned on
The only one whose arms you ever ran from
The best of you was locked away for so long
Don't wait another day
Imagine all the mysteries you're made of
The great adventures you would love
The wanderlust
And all you dared to dream of
Don't say it's too late
I wish I had a penny
For every time I told her I loved her
But that sincerity I know won't raise the fare
She was born with a wanderlust
And against the odds she made the grade
Now out of sight is out of mind to her
I'm scared...
It's a big bad big bad dead end world
If I close my eyes I can't forget you, stranger
In my sleep I see you dancing into danger
Mister don't shoot her
You can't see the whites for the reds of her eyes
Maybe she's been crying over me
While you're lying over her
Talk of us is words in perfect tenses
It seems that action men have broke down your defences
We're passing strangers
But your leaving left me wondering why
These times have changed us
Caught in the middle of a big bad dead end world
Caught in the middle of a big bad dead end world
Friends rally round but it's not just a question of sympathy
Others come and go why won't you come and go with me?
We're passing strangers
But your leaving left me wondering why
These times have changed us
Caught in the middle of a big bad dead end world
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | ||||||
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Anthem:
"God Save the Queen"[nb 1] |
||||||
Location of United Kingdom (dark green)
– in Europe (green & dark grey) |
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Capital (and largest city) |
London 51°30′N 0°7′W / 51.5°N 0.117°W |
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Official language(s) | English[1][2] | |||||
Recognised regional languages | Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Scots and Ulster Scots, Welsh, Cornish[nb 2] | |||||
Ethnic groups (2001 See: UK ethnic groups list[4]) |
92.1% White 4.0% South Asian 2.0% Black 1.2% Mixed 0.4% Chinese 0.4% Other |
|||||
Demonym | British or Briton | |||||
Government | Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy | |||||
- | Monarch | Elizabeth II | ||||
- | Prime Minister | David Cameron MP | ||||
Legislature | Parliament | |||||
- | Upper house | House of Lords | ||||
- | Lower house | House of Commons | ||||
Formation | ||||||
- | Acts of Union 1707 | 1 May 1707 | ||||
- | Acts of Union 1800 | 1 January 1801 | ||||
- | Anglo-Irish Treaty | 12 April 1922 | ||||
Area | ||||||
- | Total | 243,610 km2 (80th) 94,060 sq mi |
||||
- | Water (%) | 1.34 | ||||
Population | ||||||
- | Mid-2010 estimate | 62,262,000[5] (22nd) | ||||
- | 2001 census | 58,789,194[6] | ||||
- | Density | 255.6/km2 (51st) 661.9/sq mi |
||||
GDP (PPP) | 2011 estimate | |||||
- | Total | $2.260 trillion[7] | ||||
- | Per capita | $36,089[7] | ||||
GDP (nominal) | 2011 estimate | |||||
- | Total | $2.417 trillion[7] | ||||
- | Per capita | $38,592[7] | ||||
Gini (2008–09) | 41[8] | |||||
HDI (2011) | 0.863[9] (very high) (28th) | |||||
Currency | Pound sterling (GBP ) |
|||||
Time zone | GMT (UTC+0) | |||||
- | Summer (DST) | BST (UTC+1) | ||||
Date formats | dd/mm/yyyy (AD) | |||||
Drives on the | left[nb 3] | |||||
ISO 3166 code | GB | |||||
Internet TLD | .uk[nb 4] | |||||
Calling code | 44 | |||||
1 | A second coat of arms is used in Scotland |
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland[nb 5] (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, or Britain) is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The country includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea.
The United Kingdom is a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system, with its seat of government in the capital city of London. It is a country in its own right[10] and consists of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There are three devolved administrations, each with varying powers,[11][12] based in Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, the capitals of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Associated with the UK, but not constitutionally part of it, are three Crown Dependencies.[13] The United Kingdom has fourteen overseas territories.[14] These are remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in 1922, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface and was the largest empire in history. British influence can still be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former territories.
The UK is a developed country and has the world's seventh-largest economy by nominal GDP and eighth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It was the world's first industrialised country[15] and the world's foremost power during the 19th and early 20th centuries.[16] The UK remains a great power with leading economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence.[17] It is a recognised nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth in the world.[18]
The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946. It has been a member of the European Union and its predecessor the European Economic Community since 1973. It is also a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Council of Europe, the G7, the G8, the G20, NATO, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Trade Organization.
Contents |
The name "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" was introduced in 1927 by the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act to reflect the reality that the de facto independence of the Irish Free State, created by the partitioning of Ireland in 1922, left Northern Ireland as the only part of the island of Ireland still within the UK.[19] Prior to this, the Acts of Union 1800, that united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland in 1801, had given the new state the name of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Great Britain before 1801 is occasionally referred to as the "United Kingdom of Great Britain".[20][21][22][23] However, Section 1 of both of the 1707 Acts of Union declare that England and Scotland are "United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain".[24][25][nb 6] The term united kingdom is found in informal use during the 18th century to describe the new state but only became official with the union with Ireland in 1801.[26]
Although the United Kingdom, as a sovereign state, is a country, England, Scotland, Wales and (more controversially) Northern Ireland are also referred to as countries, although they are not sovereign states and only Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government.[27][28] The British Prime Minister's website has used the phrase "countries within a country" to describe the United Kingdom.[10] With regard to Northern Ireland, the descriptive name used "can be controversial, with the choice often revealing one's political preferences."[29] Other terms used for Northern Ireland include "region" and "province".[30][31]
The United Kingdom is often referred to as Britain. British government sources frequently use the term as a short form for the United Kingdom, whilst media style guides generally allow its use but point out that the longer term Great Britain refers only to England, Scotland and Wales.[32][33][34] However, some foreign usage, particularly in the United States, uses Great Britain as a loose synonym for the United Kingdom.[35][36] Also, the United Kingdom's Olympic team competes under the name "Great Britain" or "Team GB".[37][38] GB and GBR are the standard country codes for the United Kingdom (see ISO 3166-2 and ISO 3166-1 alpha-3) and are consequently commonly used by international organisations to refer to the United Kingdom.[citation needed]
In 2006, a new design of British passport entered into use. Its first page shows the long form name of the state in English, Welsh and Scottish Gaelic.[39] In Welsh, the long form name of the state is "Teyrnas Unedig Prydain Fawr a Gogledd Iwerddon" with "Teyrnas Unedig" being used as a short form name on government websites.[40] In Scottish Gaelic, the long form is "Rìoghachd Aonaichte na Breatainne Mòire is Èireann a Tuath".
The adjective British is commonly used to refer to matters relating to the United Kingdom. Although the term has no definite legal connotation, it is used in legislation to refer to United Kingdom citizenship.[41] However, British people use a number of different terms to describe their national identity. Some may identify themselves as British only, or British and English, Scottish, Welsh, or Northern Irish. Others may identify themselves as only English, Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish and not British. In Northern Ireland, some describe themselves as only Irish.[42][43][44]
Settlement by anatomically modern humans of what was to become the United Kingdom occurred in waves beginning by about 30,000 years ago.[45] By the end of the region's prehistoric period, the population is thought to have belonged, in the main, to a culture termed Insular Celtic, comprising Brythonic Britain and Gaelic Ireland.[46] The Roman conquest, beginning in 43 AD, and the 400-year rule of southern Britain, was followed by an invasion by Germanic Anglo-Saxon settlers, reducing the Brythonic area mainly to what was to become Wales.[47] The region settled by the Anglo-Saxons became unified as the Kingdom of England in the 10th century.[48] Meanwhile, Gaelic-speakers in north west Britain (with connections to the north-east of Ireland and traditionally supposed to have migrated from there in the 5th century)[49][50] united with the Picts to create the Kingdom of Scotland in the 9th century.[51]
In 1066, the Normans invaded England and after its conquest, seized large parts of Wales, conquered much of Ireland and settled in Scotland bringing to each country feudalism on the Northern French model and Norman-French culture.[52] The Norman elites greatly influenced, but eventually assimilated with, each of the local cultures.[53] Subsequent medieval English kings completed the conquest of Wales and made an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to annex Scotland. Thereafter, Scotland maintained its independence, albeit in near-constant conflict with England. The English monarchs, through inheritance of substantial territories in France and claims to the French crown, were also heavily involved in conflicts in France, most notably the Hundred Years War.[54]
The early modern period saw religious conflict resulting from the Reformation and the introduction of Protestant state churches in each country.[55] Wales was fully incorporated into the Kingdom of England,[56] and Ireland was constituted as a kingdom in personal union with the English crown.[57] In what was to become Northern Ireland, the lands of the independent Catholic Gaelic nobility were confiscated and land given to Protestant settlers from England and Scotland.[58] In 1603, the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland were united in a personal union when James VI, King of Scots, inherited the crowns of England and Ireland and moved his court from Edinburgh to London; each country nevertheless remained a separate political entity and retained its separate political institutions.[59][60] In the mid-17th century, all three kingdoms were involved in a series of connected wars (including the English Civil War) which led to the temporary overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of the short-lived unitary republic of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland.[61][62] Although the monarchy was restored, it ensured (with the Glorious Revolution of 1688) that, unlike much of the rest of Europe, royal absolutism would not prevail. The British constitution would develop on the basis of constitutional monarchy and the parliamentary system.[63] During this period, particularly in England, the development of naval power (and the interest in voyages of discovery) led to the acquisition and settlement of overseas colonies, particularly in North America.[64][65]
On 1 May 1707 a new kingdom of Great Britain was created by the political union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland in accordance with the Treaty of Union, negotiated the previous year and ratified by the English and Scottish Parliaments passing Acts of Union.[66][67][68]
In the 18th century, the country played an important role in developing Western ideas of the parliamentary system and in making significant contributions to literature, the arts, and science.[16] The British-led Industrial Revolution transformed the country and fuelled the growing British Empire. During this time Britain, like other great powers, was involved in colonial exploitation, including the Atlantic slave trade, although with the passing of the Slave Trade Act of 1807 the UK took a leading role in battling the trade in slaves.[69] The colonies in North America had been the main focus of British colonial activity. With their loss in the American War of Independence, imperial ambition turned elsewhere, particularly to India.[70]
In 1800, while the wars with France still raged, the Parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland each passed an Act of Union, uniting the two kingdoms and creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, which came into being on 1 January 1801.[71]
After the defeat of France in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1792–1815), the UK emerged as the principal naval and economic power of the 19th century (with London the largest city in the world from about 1830)[72] Unchallenged at sea, Britain adopted the role of global policeman, a state of affairs later known as the Pax Britannica.[73][74] It was also a period of rapid economic, colonial, and industrial growth. Britain was described as the "workshop of the world",[75] and the British Empire grew to include India, large parts of Africa, and many other territories. Alongside the formal control it exerted over its own colonies, Britain's dominant position in world trade meant that it effectively controlled the economies of many countries, such as China, Argentina and Siam.[76][77] Domestically, there was a shift to free trade and laissez-faire policies and a very significant widening of the voting franchise. The country experienced a huge population increase during the century, accompanied by rapid urbanisation, causing significant social and economic stresses.[78] By the end of the century, other states began to challenge Britain's industrial dominance.[79]
The UK, along with Russia, France and (after 1917) the USA, was one of the major powers opposing the German Empire and its allies in World War I (1914–18).[80] The UK armed forces grew to over five million people[81] engaged across much of its empire and several regions of Europe, and increasingly took a major role on the Western front. The nation suffered some two and a half million casualties and finished the war with a huge national debt.[81] After the war the United Kingdom received the League of Nations mandate over former German and Ottoman colonies, and the British Empire had expanded to its greatest extent, covering a fifth of the world's land surface and a quarter of its population.[82] The rise of Irish Nationalism and disputes within Ireland over the terms of Irish Home Rule led eventually to the partition of the island in 1921,[83] and the Irish Free State became independent with Dominion status in 1922, while Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom.[84] The Great Depression (1929–32) occurred when the UK had not recovered from the effects of the war, and led to hardship as well as political and social unrest.[85]
The United Kingdom was one of the Allies of World War II and an original signatory to the Declaration of the United Nations. Following the defeat of its European allies in the first year of the war, the United Kingdom continued the fight against Germany, notably in the Battle of Britain and the Battle of the Atlantic. After the victory, the UK was one of the Big Three powers that met to plan the postwar world. The war left the country financially damaged. Marshall Aid and loans from both the United States and Canada helped the UK on the road to recovery.[86]
The Labour government in the immediate post-war years initiated a radical programme of changes, with a significant impact on British society in the following decades.[87] Domestically, major industries and public utilities were nationalised, a Welfare State was established, and a comprehensive publicly funded healthcare system, the National Health Service, was created.[88] In response to the rise of local nationalism, the Labour government's own ideological sympathies and Britain's now diminished economic position, a policy of decolonisation was initiated, starting with the granting of independence to India and Pakistan in 1947.[89] Over the next three decades, most territories of the Empire gained independence and became sovereign members of the Commonwealth of Nations.[citation needed]
Although the new postwar limits of Britain's political role were illustrated by the Suez Crisis of 1956, the UK nevertheless became one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and was the third country to develop a nuclear weapons arsenal (with its first atomic bomb test in 1952). The international spread of the English language also ensured the continuing international influence of its literature and culture, while from the 1960s its popular culture also found influence abroad. As a result of a shortage of workers in the 1950s, the British Government encouraged immigration from Commonwealth countries, thereby transforming Britain into a multi-ethnic society in the following decades.[90] In 1973, the UK joined the European Economic Community (EEC), and when the EEC became the European Union (EU) in 1992, it was one of the 12 founding members. From the late 1960s Northern Ireland suffered communal and paramilitary violence (sometimes affecting other parts of the UK and also the Republic of Ireland) conventionally known as the Troubles. It is usually considered to have ended with the Belfast "Good Friday" Agreement of 1998.[91][92][93]
Following a period of widespread economic slowdown and industrial strife in the 1970s, the Conservative Government of the 1980s initiated a radical policy of deregulation, particularly of the financial sector, flexible labour markets, the sale of state-owned companies (privatisation), and the withdrawal of subsidies to others.[94] Aided, from 1984, by the inflow of substantial North Sea oil revenues, the UK experienced a period of significant economic growth.[95] Around the end of the 20th century there were major changes to the governance of the UK with the establishment of devolved national administrations for Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales following pre-legislative referendums,[96] and the statutory incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights. Domestic controversy surrounded some of Britain's overseas military deployments in the 2000s (decade), particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan.[97]
The total area of the United Kingdom is approximately 243,610 square kilometres (94,060 sq mi). The country occupies the major part of the British Isles[98] archipelago and includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern one-sixth of the island of Ireland and some smaller surrounding islands. It lies between the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea with the south-east coast coming within 35 kilometres (22 mi) of the coast of northern France, from which it is separated by the English Channel.[99] As of 1993[update] 10% of the UK was forested, 46% used for pastures and 25% used for agriculture.[100] The Royal Greenwich Observatory in London is the defining point of the Prime Meridian.[citation needed]
The United Kingdom lies between latitudes 49° to 61° N, and longitudes 9° W to 2° E. Northern Ireland shares a 360-kilometre (224 mi) land boundary with the Republic of Ireland.[99] The coastline of Great Britain is 17,820 kilometres (11,073 mi) long.[101] It is connected to continental Europe by the Channel Tunnel, which at 50 kilometres (31 mi) (38 kilometres (24 mi) underwater) is the longest underwater tunnel in the world.[102]
England accounts for just over half of the total area of the UK, covering 130,395 square kilometres (50,350 sq mi).[103] Most of the country consists of lowland terrain,[100] with mountainous terrain north-west of the Tees-Exe line; including the Cumbrian Mountains of the Lake District, the Pennines and limestone hills of the Peak District, Exmoor and Dartmoor. The main rivers and estuaries are the Thames, Severn and the Humber. England's highest mountain is Scafell Pike (978 metres (3,209 ft)) in the Lake District. Its principal rivers are the Severn, Thames, Humber, Tees, Tyne, Tweed, Avon, Exe and Mersey.[100]
Scotland accounts for just under a third of the total area of the UK, covering 78,772 square kilometres (30,410 sq mi)[104] and including nearly eight hundred islands,[105] predominantly west and north of the mainland; notably the Hebrides, Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands. The topography of Scotland is distinguished by the Highland Boundary Fault—a geological rock fracture—which traverses Scotland from Arran in the west to Stonehaven in the east.[106] The faultline separates two distinctively different regions; namely the Highlands to the north and west and the lowlands to the south and east. The more rugged Highland region contains the majority of Scotland's mountainous land, including Ben Nevis which at 1,343 metres (4,406 ft) is the highest point in the British Isles.[107] Lowland areas, especially the narrow waist of land between the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth known as the Central Belt, are flatter and home to most of the population including Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, and Edinburgh, its capital and political centre.[citation needed]
Wales accounts for less than a tenth of the total area of the UK, covering 20,779 square kilometres (8,020 sq mi).[108] Wales is mostly mountainous, though South Wales is less mountainous than North and mid Wales. The main population and industrial areas are in South Wales, consisting of the coastal cities of Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, and the South Wales Valleys to their north. The highest mountains in Wales are in Snowdonia and include Snowdon (Welsh: Yr Wyddfa) which, at 1,085 metres (3,560 ft), is the highest peak in Wales.[100] The 14, or possibly 15, Welsh mountains over 3,000 feet (914 m) high are known collectively as the Welsh 3000s. Wales has over 1,200 km (750 miles) of coastline. There are several islands off the Welsh mainland, the largest of which is Anglesey (Ynys Môn) in the northwest.
Northern Ireland accounts for just 14,160 square kilometres (5,470 sq mi) and is mostly hilly. It includes Lough Neagh which, at 388 square kilometres (150 sq mi), is the largest lake in the British Isles by area.[109] The highest peak in Northern Ireland is Slieve Donard in the Mourne Mountains at 852 metres (2,795 ft).[100]
The United Kingdom has a temperate climate, with plentiful rainfall all year round.[99] The temperature varies with the seasons seldom dropping below −11 °C (12 °F) or rising above 35 °C (95 °F).[110] The prevailing wind is from the south-west and bears frequent spells of mild and wet weather from the Atlantic Ocean,[99] although the eastern parts are mostly sheltered from this wind—as the majority of the rain falls over the western regions the eastern parts are therefore the driest.[citation needed] Atlantic currents, warmed by the Gulf Stream, bring mild winters; especially in the west where winters are wet and even more so over high ground. Summers are warmest in the south-east of England, being closest to the European mainland, and coolest in the north. Heavy snowfall can occur in winter and early spring on high ground, and occasionally settles to great depth away from the hills.[111]
Each country of the United Kingdom has its own system of administrative and geographic demarcation, which often has origins that pre-date the formation of the United Kingdom itself. Consequently there is "no common stratum of administrative unit encompassing the United Kingdom".[112] Until the 19th century there was little change to those arrangements, but there has since been a constant evolution of role and function.[113] Change did not occur in a uniform manner and the devolution of power over local government to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland means that future changes are unlikely to be uniform either.[citation needed]
The organisation of local government in England is complex, with the distribution of functions varying according to the local arrangements. Legislation concerning local government in England is decided by the UK parliament and the Government of the United Kingdom, as England does not have a devolved parliament. The upper-tier subdivisions of England are the nine Government office regions or European Union government office regions.[114] One region, Greater London, has had a directly elected assembly and mayor since 2000 following popular support for the proposal in a referendum.[115] It was intended that other regions would also be given their own elected regional assemblies but the rejection of a proposed assembly in the North East region, by a referendum in 2004, stopped this idea in its tracks.[116] Below the region level England has either county councils and district councils or unitary authorities and London which consists of 32 London boroughs. Councillors are elected by the first-past-the-post system in single-member wards or by the multi-member plurality system in multi-member wards.[117]
Local government in Scotland is divided on a basis of 32 council areas, with wide variation in both size and population. The cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee are separate council areas as is the Highland Council which includes a third of Scotland's area but just over 200,000 people. The power invested in local authorities is administered by elected councillors, of which there are currently 1,222[118] and are each paid a part-time salary. Elections are conducted by single transferable vote in multi-member wards that elect either three or four councillors. Each council elects a Provost, or Convenor, to chair meetings of the council and to act as a figurehead for the area. Councillors are subject to a code of conduct enforced by the Standards Commission for Scotland.[119] The representative association of Scotland's local authorities is the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA).[120]
Local government in Wales consists of 22 unitary authorities. These include the cities of Cardiff, Swansea and Newport which are unitary authorities in their own right.[121] Elections are held every four years under the first-past-the-post system.[122] The most recent elections were held in May 2008. The Welsh Local Government Association represents the interests of local authorities in Wales.[123]
Local government in Northern Ireland has, since 1973, been organised into 26 district councils, each elected by single transferable vote. Their powers are limited to services such as collecting waste, controlling dogs, and maintaining parks and cemeteries.[124] On 13 March 2008 the executive agreed on proposals to create 11 new councils and replace the present system.[125] The next local elections were postponed until 2011 to facilitate this.[126]
The United Kingdom has sovereignty over seventeen territories which do not form part of the United Kingdom itself: fourteen British Overseas Territories[127] and three Crown Dependencies.[citation needed]
The fourteen British Overseas Territories are: Anguilla; Bermuda; the British Antarctic Territory; the British Indian Ocean Territory; the British Virgin Islands; the Cayman Islands; the Falkland Islands; Gibraltar; Montserrat; Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; the Turks and Caicos Islands; the Pitcairn Islands; South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; and the Sovereign Base Areas on Cyprus.[128] British claims in Antarctica are not universally recognised.[129] Collectively Britain's overseas territories encompass an approximate land area of 667,018 square miles (1,727,570 km2) and a population of approximately 260,000 people.[130] They are the remnants of the British Empire and several have specifically voted to remain British territories (Bermuda in 1995 and Gibraltar in 2002).[citation needed]
The Crown Dependencies are British possessions of the Crown, as opposed to overseas territories of the UK.[131] They comprise the Channel Island Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey in the English Channel and the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea. Being independently administered jurisdictions they do not form part of the United Kingdom or of the European Union, although the UK government manages their foreign affairs and defence and the UK Parliament has the authority to legislate on their behalf. The power to pass legislation affecting the islands ultimately rests with their own respective legislative assemblies, with the assent of the Crown (Privy Council or, in the case of the Isle of Man, in certain circumstances the Lieutenant-Governor).[132] Since 2005 each Crown dependency has had a Chief Minister as its head of government.[citation needed]
The United Kingdom is a unitary state under a constitutional monarchy. Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state of the UK as well as of fifteen other independent Commonwealth countries. The monarch has "the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, and the right to warn".[133] The United Kingdom has an uncodified constitution,[134] as do only three other countries in the world.[nb 7] The Constitution of the United Kingdom thus consists mostly of a collection of disparate written sources, including statutes, judge-made case law and international treaties, together with constitutional conventions. As there is no technical difference between ordinary statutes and "constitutional law" the UK Parliament can perform "constitutional reform" simply by passing Acts of Parliament and thus has the political power to change or abolish almost any written or unwritten element of the constitution. However, no Parliament can pass laws that future Parliaments cannot change.[135]
The UK has a parliamentary government based on the Westminster system that has been emulated around the world—a legacy of the British Empire. The parliament of the United Kingdom that meets in the Palace of Westminster has two houses; an elected House of Commons and an appointed House of Lords.[citation needed] Any bill passed requires Royal Assent to become law.
The position of prime minister, the UK's head of government,[136] belongs to the member of parliament who can obtain the confidence of a majority in the House of Commons, usually the current leader of the largest political party in that chamber. The prime minister and cabinet are formally appointed by the monarch to form Her Majesty's Government, though the prime minister chooses the cabinet and, by convention, the Queen respects the prime minister's choices.[137]
The cabinet is traditionally drawn from members of the Prime Minister's party in both legislative houses, and mostly from the House of Commons, to which they are responsible. Executive power is exercised by the prime minister and cabinet, all of whom are sworn into the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, and become Ministers of the Crown. The Rt. Hon. David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, has been Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service since 11 May 2010.[138] For elections to the House of Commons, the UK is currently divided into 650 constituencies[139] with each electing a single member of parliament by simple plurality. General elections are called by the monarch when the prime minister so advises. The Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 require that a new election must be called within five years of the previous general election.[140]
The UK's three major political parties are the Conservative Party, the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats. During the 2010 general election these three parties won 622 out of 650 seats available in the House of Commons; 621 seats at the 2010 general election[141] and 1 more at the delayed by-election in Thirsk and Malton.[142] Most of the remaining seats were won by minor parties that only contest elections in one part of the UK: the Scottish National Party (Scotland only); Plaid Cymru (Wales only); and the Democratic Unionist Party, Social Democratic and Labour Party, Ulster Unionist Party, and Sinn Féin (Northern Ireland only, though Sinn Féin also contests elections in the Republic of Ireland). In accordance with party policy no elected Sinn Féin member of parliament has ever attended the House of Commons to speak on behalf of their constituents – this is because members of parliament are required to take an oath of allegiance to the monarch. The current five Sinn Féin MPs have however, since 2002, made use of the offices and other facilities available at Westminster.[143] For elections to the European Parliament the UK currently has 72 MEPs, elected in 12 multi-member constituencies.[144]
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each have their own government or executive, led by a First Minister (or, in the case of Northern Ireland, a diarchal First Minister and deputy First Minister), and a devolved unicameral legislature. England, the largest country of the United Kingdom, has no devolved executive or legislature and is administered and legislated for directly by the UK government and parliament on all issues. This situation has given rise to the so-called West Lothian question which concerns the fact that MPs from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can vote, sometimes decisively,[145] on matters affecting England that are handled by devolved legislatures for their own constituencies.[146]
The Scottish Government and Parliament have wide ranging powers over any matter that has not been specifically 'reserved' to the UK parliament, including education, healthcare, Scots law and local government.[147] Following its victory at the 2007 elections the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) formed a minority government with its leader, Alex Salmond, becoming First Minister of Scotland.[148] The pro-union parties responded to the electoral success of the SNP by creating a Commission on Scottish Devolution[149] which reported in 2009 and recommended that additional powers should be devolved, including control of half the income tax raised in Scotland.[150] At the 2011 elections the SNP won re-election and achieved an overall majority in the Scottish parliament.[151]
The Welsh Government and the National Assembly for Wales have more limited powers than those devolved to Scotland.[152] Following the passing of the Government of Wales Act 2006 the assembly was able to legislate in devolved areas through Assembly Measures once permission to legislate on that specific matter had been granted by Westminster through a Legislative Competence Order;[153] but since May 2011 the Assembly has been able to legislate on devolved matters through Acts of the Assembly, which require no prior consent. The current Welsh Government was formed after the 2011 elections, and is a minority Labour administration lead by Carwyn Jones, who had been First Minister of a Labour/Plaid Cymru administration since December 2009.[154]
The Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly have powers closer to those already devolved to Scotland. The Executive is led by a diarchy representing unionist and nationalist members of the Assembly. Currently, Peter Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party) and Martin McGuinness (Sinn Féin) are First Minister and deputy First Minister respectively.[155] Devolution in Northern Ireland is subject to the terms of the Good Friday Agreement and the subsequent British-Irish Agreement between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Under those agreements, the participation of members of the Northern Ireland Executive in the North/South Ministerial Council, and co-operation between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland on a number of devolved policy areas, are prerequisites of devolution in Northern Ireland. The British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference was also established under the agreements, whereby "the Irish Government may put forward views and proposals" on non-devolved matters with respect to Northern Ireland. However, the United Kingdom government remains sovereign over Northern Ireland unless a majority of the people of Northern Ireland vote to form a united Ireland.[citation needed]
The United Kingdom does not have a codified constitution and constitutional matters are not among the powers devolved to Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. Under the doctrine of Parliamentary sovereignty, the UK Parliament could, in theory, therefore, abolish the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly or Northern Ireland Assembly.[156][157] Indeed, in 1972, the UK Parliament unilaterally prorogued the Parliament of Northern Ireland, setting a precedent relevant to contemporary devolved institutions.[158] In practice, the circumstances in which the UK Parliament would abolish devolution given the political constraints created by referendum decisions are unclear.[159] The political constraints placed upon the UK Parliament's power to interfere with devolution in Northern Ireland are greater than in relation to Scotland and Wales, given that devolution in Northern Ireland rests upon an international agreement with the Government of Ireland.[160]
The United Kingdom does not have a single legal system, as Article 19 of the 1706 Treaty of Union provided for the continuation of Scotland's separate legal system.[161] Today the UK has three distinct systems of law: English law, Northern Ireland law and Scots law. A new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom came into being in October 2009 to replace the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords.[162][163] The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, including the same members as the Supreme Court, is the highest court of appeal for several independent Commonwealth countries, the British Overseas Territories, and the Crown Dependencies.[citation needed]
Both English law, which applies in England and Wales, and Northern Ireland law are based on common-law principles.[164] The essence of common law is that, subject to statute, the law is developed by judges in courts, applying statute, precedent and common sense to the facts before them to give explanatory judgements of the relevant legal principles, which are reported and binding in future similar cases (stare decisis).[165] The courts of England and Wales are headed by the Senior Courts of England and Wales, consisting of the Court of Appeal, the High Court of Justice (for civil cases) and the Crown Court (for criminal cases). The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land for both criminal and civil appeal cases in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland and any decision it makes is binding on every other court in the same jurisdiction, often having a persuasive effect in other jurisdictions.[166]
Scots law applies in Scotland, a hybrid system based on both common-law and civil-law principles. The chief courts are the Court of Session, for civil cases,[167] and the High Court of Justiciary, for criminal cases.[168] The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom serves as the highest court of appeal for civil cases under Scots law.[169] Sheriff courts deal with most civil and criminal cases including conducting criminal trials with a jury, known as sheriff solemn court, or with a sheriff and no jury, known as sheriff summary Court.[170] The Scots legal system is unique in having three possible verdicts for a criminal trial: "guilty", "not guilty" and "not proven". Both "not guilty" and "not proven" result in an acquittal with no possibility of retrial.[171]
Crime in England and Wales increased in the period between 1981 and 1995, though since that peak there has been an overall fall of 48% in crime from 1995 to 2007/08,[172] according to crime statistics. The prison population of England and Wales has almost doubled over the same period, to over 80,000, giving England and Wales the highest rate of incarceration in Western Europe at 147 per 100,000.[173] Her Majesty's Prison Service, which reports to the Ministry of Justice, manages most of the prisons within England and Wales. Crime in Scotland fell to its lowest recorded level for 32 years in 2009/10, falling by ten percent.[174] At the same time Scotland's prison population, at over 8,000,[175] is at record levels and well above design capacity.[176] The Scottish Prison Service, which reports to the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, manages Scotland's prisons. In 2006 a report by the Surveillance Studies Network found that the UK had the highest level of mass surveillance among industrialised western nations.[177]
The United Kingdom is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, G7, G8, G20, NATO, the OECD, the WTO, the Council of Europe, the OSCE, and is a member state of the European Union. The UK has a "Special Relationship" with the United States[178][179] and a close partnership with France – the "Entente cordiale" – and shares nuclear weapons technology with both countries. The UK is also closely allied with the Republic of Ireland; the two countries share a Common Travel Area and many Irish citizens serve in the British Army.[180] Other close allies include other European Union and NATO members, Commonwealth nations, and Japan. Britain's global presence and influence is further amplified through its trading relations, foreign investments, official development assistance and armed forces.[181]
The British Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy are collectively known as the British Armed Forces and officially as Her Majesty's Armed Forces. The three forces are managed by the Ministry of Defence and controlled by the Defence Council, chaired by the Secretary of State for Defence.
The British Armed Forces are among the largest and most technologically sophisticated armed forces in the world, and as of as of 2008[update] maintained over 20 military deployments around the globe.[182][183][184] The British Armed Forces are charged with protecting the UK and its overseas territories, promoting the UK's global security interests and supporting international peacekeeping efforts. They are active and regular participants in NATO, including the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, as well as the Five Power Defence Arrangements, RIMPAC and other worldwide coalition operations. Overseas garrisons and facilities are maintained in Ascension Island, Belize, Brunei, Canada, Cyprus, Diego Garcia, the Falkland Islands, Germany, Gibraltar, Kenya and Qatar.[185]
According to various sources, including the Ministry of Defence, the UK has the third- or fourth-highest military expenditure in the world. Total defence spending currently accounts for around 2.3% – 2.5% of total national GDP.[186]
The Royal Navy is a prominent blue-water navy, currently one of only three world wide, with the French Navy and the United States Navy being the other two.[187] The Royal Navy is also responsible for delivering the UKs Nuclear Deterrent via the UK Trident programme and four Vanguard class submarines.
The United Kingdom Special Forces, such as the Special Air Service and Special Boat Service, provide troops trained for quick, mobile, military responses in counter-terrorism, land, maritime and amphibious operations, often where secrecy or covert tactics are required.
Recent defence policy has a stated assumption that "the most demanding operations" will be undertaken as part of a coalition.[188] Setting aside the intervention in Sierra Leone, UK military operations in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq and, most recently, Libya, have followed this approach. The last war in which the British military fought alone was the Falklands War of 1982, in which they were victorious.
The UK has a partially regulated market economy.[189] Based on market exchange rates the UK is today the sixth-largest economy in the world and the third-largest in Europe after Germany and France, having fallen behind France for the first time in over a decade in 2008.[190] HM Treasury, led by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, is responsible for developing and executing the British government's public finance policy and economic policy. The Bank of England is the UK's central bank and is responsible for issuing the nation's currency, the pound sterling. Banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland retain the right to issue their own notes, subject to retaining enough Bank of England notes in reserve to cover their issue. Pound sterling is the world's third-largest reserve currency (after the U.S. Dollar and the Euro).[191] Since 1997 the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, headed by the Governor of the Bank of England, has been responsible for setting interest rates at the level necessary to achieve the overall inflation target for the economy that is set by the Chancellor each year.[192]
In the final quarter of 2008 the UK economy officially entered recession for the first time since 1991.[193] Unemployment increased from 5.2% in May 2008 to 7.6% in May 2009 and by January 2012 the unemployment rate among 18 to 24-year-olds had risen from 11.9% to 22.5%, the highest since current records began in 1992.[194][195] Total UK government debt rose from 44.5% of GDP in December 2007 to 76.1% of GDP in December 2010.[196][197]
The UK service sector makes up around 73% of GDP.[198] London is one of the three "command centres" of the global economy (alongside New York City and Tokyo),[199] is the world's largest financial centre alongside New York,[200][201][202] and has the largest city GDP in Europe.[203] Edinburgh is also one of the largest financial centres in Europe.[204] Tourism is very important to the British economy and, with over 27 million tourists arriving in 2004, the United Kingdom is ranked as the sixth major tourist destination in the world[205] and London has the most international visitors of any city in the world.[206] The creative industries accounted for 7% GVA in 2005 and grew at an average of 6% per annum between 1997 and 2005.[207]
The Industrial Revolution started in the UK[208] with an initial concentration on the textile industry, followed by other heavy industries such as shipbuilding, coal mining, and Steelmaking.[209][210] The empire created an overseas market for British products, allowing the UK to dominate international trade in the 19th century. As other nations industrialised, coupled with economic decline after two world wars, the United Kingdom began to lose its competitive advantage and heavy industry declined, by degrees, throughout the 20th century. Manufacturing remains a significant part of the economy but accounted for only 16.7% of national output in 2003.[211]
The automotive industry is a significant part of the UK manufacturing sector and employs over 800,000 people, with a turnover of some £52 billion, generating £26.6 billion of exports.[212] The aerospace industry of the UK is the second- or third-largest national aerospace industry depending upon the method of measurement and has an annual turnover of around £20 billion.[213][214][215] The pharmaceutical industry plays an important role in the UK economy and the country has the third highest share of global pharmaceutical R&D expenditures (after the United States and Japan).[216][217]
The poverty line in the UK is commonly defined as being 60% of the median household income.[nb 8] In 2007–2008 13.5 million people, or 22% of the population, lived below this line. This is a higher level of relative poverty than all but four other EU members.[218] In the same year 4.0 million children, 31% of the total, lived in households below the poverty line after housing costs were taken into account. This is a decrease of 400,000 children since 1998–1999.[219] The UK imports 40% of its food supplies.[220]
England and Scotland were leading centres of the Scientific Revolution from the 17th century[221] and the United Kingdom led the Industrial Revolution from the 18th century,[208] and has continued to produce scientists and engineers credited with important advances.[222] Major theorists from the 17th and 18th centuries include Isaac Newton, whose laws of motion and illumination of gravity have been seen as a keystone of modern science,[223] from the 19th century Charles Darwin, whose theory of evolution by natural selection was fundamental to the development of modern biology, and James Clerk Maxwell, who formulated classical electromagnetic theory, and more recently Stephen Hawking, who has advanced major theories in the fields of cosmology, quantum gravity and the investigation of black holes.[224] Major scientific discoveries from the 18th century include hydrogen by Henry Cavendish,[225] from the 20th century penicillin by Alexander Fleming,[226] and the structure of DNA, by Francis Crick and others.[227] Major engineering projects and applications by people from the UK in the 18th century include the steam locomotive, developed by Richard Trevithick and Andrew Vivian,[228] from the 19th century the electric motor by Michael Faraday, the incandescent light bulb by Joseph Swan,[229] and the first practical telephone, patented by Alexander Graham Bell,[230] and in the 20th century the world's first working television system by John Logie Baird and others,[231] the jet engine by Frank Whittle, the basis of the modern computer by Alan Turing, and the World Wide Web by Tim Berners-Lee.[232]
The modern UK plays a leading part in the aerospace industry, with companies including Rolls-Royce playing a leading role in the aero-engine market; BAE Systems acting as Britain's largest and the Pentagon's sixth largest defence supplier, and large companies including GKN acting as major suppliers to the Airbus project.[233] Two British-based companies, GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca, ranked in the top five pharmaceutical companies in the world by sales in 2009,[234] and UK companies have discovered and developed more leading medicines than any other country apart from the US.[235] The UK remains a leading centre of automotive design and production, particularly of engines, and has around 2,600 component manufacturers.[236] Scientific research and development remains important in British universities, with many establishing science parks to facilitate production and co-operation with industry.[237] Between 2004 and 2008 the UK produced 7% of the world's scientific research papers and had an 8% share of scientific citations, the third and second highest in the world (after the United States and China, and the United States, respectively).[238] Scientific journals produced in the UK include Nature, the British Medical Journal and The Lancet.[239]
A radial road network totals 29,145 miles (46,904 km) of main roads, 2,173 miles (3,497 km) of motorways and 213,750 miles (344,000 km) of paved roads.[99] In 2009 there were a total of 34 million licensed vehicles in Great Britain.[242] The National Rail network of 10,072 route miles (16,116 km) in Great Britain and 189 route miles (303 route km) in Northern Ireland carries over 18,000 passenger and 1,000 freight trains daily.[99] Plans are now being considered to build new high-speed railway lines by 2025.[243]
In the year from October 2009 to September 2010 UK airports handled a total of 211.4 million passengers.[244] In that period the three largest airports were London Heathrow Airport (65.6 million passengers), Gatwick Airport (31.5 million passengers) and London Stansted Airport (18.9 million passengers).[244] London Heathrow Airport, located 24 kilometres (15 mi) west of the capital, has the most international passenger traffic of any airport in the world[240][241] and is the hub for the UK flag carrier British Airways, as well as BMI and Virgin Atlantic.[245]
In 2006 the UK was the world's ninth-largest consumer of energy and the 15th largest producer.[246] In 2007 the UK had a total energy output of 9.5 quadrillion Btus, of which the composition was oil (38%), natural gas (36%), coal (13%), nuclear (11%) and other renewables (2%).[247] In 2009 the UK produced 1.5 million barrels per day (bbl/d) of oil and consumed 1.7 million bbl/d.[248] Production is now in decline and the UK has been a net importer of oil since 2005.[248] As of 2010[update] the UK has around 3.1 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves, the largest of any EU member state.[248]
In 2009 the UK was the 13th largest producer of natural gas in the world and the largest producer in the EU.[249] Production is now in decline and the UK has been a net importer of natural gas since 2004.[249] In 2009 the UK produced 19.7 million tons of coal and consumed 60.2 million tons.[247] In 2005 it had proven recoverable coal reserves of 171 million tons.[247] It has been estimated that identified onshore areas have the potential to produce between 7 billion tonnes and 16 billion tonnes of coal through underground coal gasification (UCG).[250] Based on current UK coal consumption, these volumes represent reserves that could last the UK between 200 and 400 years.[251] The UK is home to a number of large energy companies, including two of the six oil and gas "supermajors" – BP and Royal Dutch Shell – and BG Group.[252][253]
A Census occurs simultaneously in all parts of the UK every ten years.[254] The Office for National Statistics is responsible for collecting data for England and Wales, the General Register Office for Scotland and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency each being responsible for censuses in their respective countries.[255] In the 2001 census the total population of the United Kingdom was 58,789,194, the third largest in the European Union, the fifth largest in the Commonwealth and the twenty-first largest in the world. By mid-2010 this was estimated to have grown to 62,262,000.[256] 2010 was the third successive year in which natural change contributed more to population growth than net long-term international migration.[256] Between 2001 and 2010 the population increased by an average annual rate of 0.6 per cent. This compares to 0.3 per cent per year in the period 1991 to 2001 and 0.2 per cent in the decade 1981 to 1991.[256] The mid-2007 population estimates revealed that, for the first time, the UK was home to more people of pensionable age than children under the age of 16.[257] It has been estimated that the number of people aged 100 or over will rise steeply to reach over 626,000 by 2080.[258]
England's population in mid-2010 was estimated to be 52.23 million.[256] It is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, with 383 people resident per square kilometre in mid-2003,[259] with a particular concentration in London and the south-east.[260] The mid-2010 estimates put Scotland's population at 5.22 million, Wales at 3.01 million and Northern Ireland at 1.80 million,[256] with much lower population densities than England. Compared to England's 383 inhabitants per square kilometre (990 /sq mi), the corresponding figures were 142 /km2 (370 /sq mi) for Wales, 125 /km2 (320 /sq mi) for Northern Ireland and 65 /km2 (170 /sq mi) for Scotland in mid-2003.[259] In percentage terms Northern Ireland has had the fastest growing population of any country of the UK in each of the four years to mid-2008.[256]
In 2009 the average total fertility rate (TFR) across the UK was 1.94 children per woman.[261] While a rising birth rate is contributing to current population growth, it remains considerably below the 'baby boom' peak of 2.95 children per woman in 1964,[262] below the replacement rate of 2.1, but higher than the 2001 record low of 1.63.[261] In 2010, Scotland had the lowest TFR at only 1.75, followed by Wales at 1.98, England at 2.00, and Northern Ireland at 2.06.[263]
Ethnic group | Population | % of total* |
---|---|---|
White British | 50,366,497 | 85.67% |
White (other) | 3,096,169 | 5.27% |
Indian | 1,053,411 | 1.8% |
Pakistani | 977,285 | 1.6% |
White Irish | 691,232 | 1.2% |
Mixed race | 677,117 | 1.2% |
Black Caribbean | 565,876 | 1.0% |
Black African | 485,277 | 0.8% |
Bangladeshi | 283,063 | 0.5% |
Other Asian (non-Chinese) | 247,644 | 0.4% |
Chinese | 247,403 | 0.4% |
Other | 230,615 | 0.4% |
Black (others) | 97,585 | 0.2% |
* Percentage of total UK population, according to the 2001 Census |
Historically, indigenous British people were thought to be descended from the various ethnic groups that settled there before the 11th century: the Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Norse and the Normans. Recent genetic studies have shown that more than 50 percent of England's gene pool contains Germanic Y chromosomes,[267] though other recent genetic analysis indicates that "about 75 per cent of the traceable ancestors of the modern British population had arrived in the British isles by about 6,200 years ago, at the start of the British Neolithic or Stone Age", and that the British broadly share a common ancestry with the Basque people.[268][269][270]
The UK has a history of small-scale non-white immigration, with Liverpool having the oldest Black population in the country dating back to at least the 1730s,[271] and the oldest Chinese community in Europe, dating to the arrival of Chinese seamen in the 19th century.[272] In 1950 there were probably fewer than 20,000 non-white residents in Britain, almost all born overseas.[273]
Since 1945 substantial immigration from Africa, the Caribbean and South Asia has been a legacy of ties forged by the British Empire. Migration from new EU member states in Central and Eastern Europe since 2004 has resulted in growth in these population groups but, as of 2008[update], the trend is reversing and many of these migrants are returning home, leaving the size of these groups unknown.[274] As of 2001[update], 92.1% of the population identified themselves as White, leaving 7.9%[275] of the UK population identifying themselves as mixed race or of an ethnic minority.
Ethnic diversity varies significantly across the UK. 30.4% of London's population[276] and 37.4% of Leicester's[277] was estimated to be non-white as of June 2005[update], whereas less than 5% of the populations of North East England, Wales and the South West were from ethnic minorities according to the 2001 census.[278] As of 2011[update], 26.5% of primary and 22.2% of secondary pupils at state schools in England are members of an ethnic minority.[279]
The UK's de facto official language is English (British English),[1][2] a West Germanic language descended from Old English which features a large number of borrowings from Old Norse, Norman French, Greek and Latin. The English language has spread across the world, initially because of the British Empire and subsequently due to the dominance of the United States, and has become the main international language of business as well as the most widely taught second language.[282]
There are four Celtic languages in use in the UK: Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Cornish. The first three are recognised as regional or minority languages subject to specific measures of protection and promotion under relevant European law, while Cornish is recognised but not specifically protected. In the 2001 Census over a fifth (21%) of the population of Wales said they could speak Welsh,[283] an increase from the 1991 Census (18%).[284] In addition it is estimated that about 200,000 Welsh speakers live in England.[285] In the same census in Northern Ireland 167,487 people (10.4%) stated that they had "some knowledge of Irish" (see Irish language in Northern Ireland), almost exclusively in the nationalist (mainly Catholic) population. Over 92,000 people in Scotland (just under 2% of the population) had some Gaelic language ability, including 72% of those living in the Outer Hebrides.[286] The number of schoolchildren being taught through Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish is increasing.[287] Among emigrant-descended populations some Scottish Gaelic is still spoken in Canada (principally Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island),[288] and Welsh in Patagonia, Argentina.[289]
Scots, a language descended from early northern Middle English, has limited recognition alongside its regional variant, Ulster Scots in Northern Ireland, without specific commitments to protection and promotion.[290]
It is compulsory for pupils to study a second language up to the age of 14 in England,[291] and up to age 16 in Scotland. French and German are the two most commonly taught second languages in England and Scotland. In Wales, all pupils up to age 16 are taught Welsh as a second language, or taught in Welsh.[292]
Forms of Christianity have dominated religious life in what is now the United Kingdom for over 1,400 years.[293] Although a majority of citizens still identify with Christianity in many surveys, regular church attendance has fallen dramatically since the middle of the 20th century,[294] while immigration and demographic change have contributed to the growth of other faiths, most notably Islam.[295] This has led some commentators to variously describe the UK as a multi-faith,[296] secularised,[297] or post-Christian society.[298] In the 2001 census 71.6% of all respondents indicated that they were Christians, with the next largest faiths (by number of adherents) being Islam (2.8%), Hinduism (1.0%), Sikhism (0.6%), Judaism (0.5%), Buddhism (0.3%) and all other religions (0.3%).[299] 15% of respondents stated that they had no religion, with a further 7% not stating a religious preference.[300] A Tearfund survey in 2007 showed only one in ten Britons actually attend church weekly.[301]
The (Anglican) Church of England is the established church in England.[302] It retains a representation in the UK Parliament and the British monarch is its Supreme Governor.[303] In Scotland the Presbyterian Church of Scotland is recognised as the national church. It is not subject to state control, and the British monarch is an ordinary member, required to swear an oath to "maintain and preserve the Protestant Religion and Presbyterian Church Government" upon his or her accession.[304][305] The (Anglican) Church in Wales was disestablished in 1920 and, as the (Anglican) Church of Ireland was disestablished in 1870 before the partition of Ireland, there is no established church in Northern Ireland.[306] Although there are no UK-wide data in the 2001 census on adherence to individual Christian denominations, Ceri Peach has estimated that 62% of Christians are Anglican, 13.5% Roman Catholic, 6% Presbyterian, 3.4% Methodist with small numbers of other Protestant denominations and the Orthodox church.[307]
The United Kingdom has experienced successive waves of migration. The Great Famine brought a large influx of Irish immigrants.[308] Over 120,000 Polish veterans settled in Britain after World War II, unable to return home.[309] In the 20th century there was significant immigration from the colonies and newly independent former colonies, driven largely by post-World War II labour shortages. Many of these migrants came from the Caribbean and the Indian subcontinent.[310]
In 2010, there were 7.0 million foreign-born residents in the UK, corresponding to 11.3% of the total population. Of these, 4.76 million (7.7%) were born outside the EU and 2.24 million (3.6%) were born in another EU Member State.[311] The proportion of foreign-born people in the UK remains slightly below that of many other European countries,[312] although immigration is now contributing to a rising population,[313] with arrivals and UK-born children of migrants accounting for about half of the population increase between 1991 and 2001. Analysis of Office for National Statistics data shows that a net total of 2.3 million migrants moved to the UK in the 15 years from 1991 to 2006.[314][315] In 2008 it was predicted that migration would add 7 million to the UK population by 2031,[316] though these figures are disputed.[317] The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that net migration rose from 2009 to 2010 by 21 percent to 239,000.[318] In 2011 the net increase was 251,000: immigration was 589,000, while the number of people emigrating (for more than 12 months) was 338,000.[319][320]
195,046 foreign nationals became British citizens in 2010,[321] compared to 54,902 in 1999.[321][322] A record 241,192 people were granted permanent settlement rights in 2010, of whom 51 per cent were from Asia and 27 per cent from Africa.[323] 25.1 per cent of babies born in England and Wales in 2010 were born to mothers born outside the UK, according to official statistics released in 2011.[324]
At least 5.5 million British-born people are living abroad,[325][326][327] the top four destinations being Australia, Spain, the United States and Canada.[325][328] Emigration was an important feature of British society in the 19th century. Between 1815 and 1930 around 11.4 million people emigrated from Britain and 7.3 million from Ireland. Estimates show that by the end of the 20th century some 300 million people of British and Irish descent were permanently settled around the globe.[329]
Citizens of the European Union, including those of the UK, have the right to live and work in any member state.[330] The UK applied temporary restrictions to citizens of Romania and Bulgaria which joined the EU in January 2007.[331] Research conducted by the Migration Policy Institute for the Equality and Human Rights Commission suggests that, between May 2004 and September 2009, 1.5 million workers migrated from the new EU member states to the UK, two-thirds of them Polish, but that many subsequently returned home, resulting in a net increase in the number of nationals of the new member states in the UK of some 700,000 over that period.[332][333] The late-2000s recession in the UK reduced the economic incentive for Poles to migrate to the UK,[334] with the migration becoming temporary and circular.[335] In 2009, for the first time since enlargement, more nationals of the eight central and eastern European states that had joined the EU in 2004 left the UK than arrived.[336] In 2011, citizens of the new EU member states made up 13% of the immigrants entering the country.[319]
The UK government has introduced a points-based immigration system for immigration from outside the European Economic Area to replace former schemes, including the Scottish Government's Fresh Talent Initiative.[337] In June 2010 the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government introduced a temporary limit of 24,000 on immigration from outside the EU, aiming to discourage applications before a permanent cap was imposed in April 2011.[338] The cap has caused tension within the coalition: business secretary Vince Cable has argued that it is harming British businesses.[339]
Education in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter, with each country having a separate education system.
Education in England is the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Education, though the day-to-day administration and funding of state schools is the responsibility of local authorities.[340] Universally free of charge state education was introduced piecemeal between 1870 and 1944, with education becoming compulsory for all 5 to 14 year-olds in 1921.[341][342] Education is now mandatory from ages five to sixteen (15 if born in late July or August). The majority of children are educated in state-sector schools, only a small proportion of which select on the grounds of academic ability. State schools which are allowed to select pupils according to intelligence and academic ability can achieve comparable results to the most selective private schools: out of the top ten performing schools in terms of GCSE results in 2006 two were state-run grammar schools. Despite a fall in actual numbers the proportion of children in England attending private schools has risen to over 7%.[343] Over half of students at the leading universities of Cambridge and Oxford had attended state schools.[344] The universities of England include some of the top universities in the world; the University of Cambridge, University College London, the University of Oxford and Imperial College London are all ranked in the global top 10 in the 2010 QS World University Rankings, with Cambridge ranked first.[345] Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) rated pupils in England 7th in the world for maths and 6th for science. The results put England's pupils ahead of other European countries, including Germany and the Scandinavian countries.[346]
Education in Scotland is the responsibility of the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, with day-to-day administration and funding of state schools the responsibility of Local Authorities. Two non-departmental public bodies have key roles in Scottish education: the Scottish Qualifications Authority is responsible for the development, accreditation, assessment and certification of qualifications other than degrees which are delivered at secondary schools, post-secondary colleges of further education and other centres;[348] and Learning and Teaching Scotland provides advice, resources and staff development to the education community to promote curriculum development and create a culture of innovation, ambition and excellence.[349] Scotland first legislated for compulsory education in 1496.[350] The proportion of children in Scotland attending private schools is just over 4%, although it has been rising slowly in recent years.[351] Scottish students who attend Scottish universities pay neither tuition fees nor graduate endowment charges, as fees were abolished in 2001 and the graduate endowment scheme was abolished in 2008.[352]
Education in Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the Minister of Education and the Minister for Employment and Learning, although responsibility at a local level is administered by five education and library boards covering different geographical areas. The Council for the Curriculum, Examinations & Assessment (CCEA) is the body responsible for advising the government on what should be taught in Northern Ireland's schools, monitoring standards and awarding qualifications.[353] The Welsh Government has responsibility for education in Wales. A significant number of Welsh students are taught either wholly or largely in the Welsh language; lessons in Welsh are compulsory for all until the age of 16.[354] There are plans to increase the provision of Welsh-medium schools as part of the policy of creating a fully bilingual Wales.
Healthcare in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter and each country has its own system of private and publicly funded health care, together with alternative, holistic and complementary treatments. Public healthcare is provided to all UK permanent residents and is free at the point of need, being paid for from general taxation. The World Health Organization, in 2000, ranked the provision of healthcare in the United Kingdom as fifteenth best in Europe and eighteenth in the world.[355][356]
Regulatory bodies are organised on a UK-wide basis such as the General Medical Council, the Nursing and Midwifery Council and non-governmental-based, such as the Royal Colleges. However, political and operational responsibility for healthcare lies with four national executives; healthcare in England is the responsibility of the UK Government; healthcare in Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Executive; healthcare in Scotland is the responsibility of the Scottish Government; and healthcare in Wales is the responsibility of the Welsh Assembly Government. Each National Health Service has different policies and priorities, resulting in contrasts.[357][358]
Since 1979 expenditure on healthcare has been increased significantly to bring it closer to the European Union average.[359] The UK spends around 8.4 per cent of its gross domestic product on healthcare, which is 0.5 percentage points below the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average and about one percentage point below the average of the European Union.[360]
The culture of the United Kingdom has been influenced by many factors including: the nation's island status; its history as a western liberal democracy and a major power; as well as being a political union of four countries with each preserving elements of distinctive traditions, customs and symbolism. As a result of the British Empire, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies; including Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States. The substantial cultural influence of the United Kingdom has led it to be described as a "cultural superpower."[361][362]
'British literature' refers to literature associated with the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. Most British literature is in the English language. In 2005, some 206,000 books were published in the United Kingdom and in 2006 it was the largest publisher of books in the world.[363]
The English playwright and poet William Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest dramatist of all time,[364][365][366] and his contemporaries Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson have also been held in continuous high esteem. More recently the playwrights Alan Ayckbourn, Harold Pinter, Michael Frayn, Tom Stoppard and David Edgar have combined elements of surrealism, realism and radicalism.
Notable pre-modern and early-modern English writers include Geoffrey Chaucer (14th century), Thomas Malory (15th century), Sir Thomas More (16th century), and John Milton (17th century). In the 18th century Daniel Defoe (author of Robinson Crusoe) and Samuel Richardson were pioneers of the modern novel. In the 19th century there followed further innovation by Jane Austen, the gothic novelist Mary Shelley, children's writer Lewis Carroll, the Brontë sisters, the social campaigner Charles Dickens, the naturalist Thomas Hardy, the realist George Eliot, the visionary poet William Blake and romantic poet William Wordsworth. 20th century English writers include: science-fiction novelist H. G. Wells; the writers of children's classics Rudyard Kipling, A. A. Milne (the creator of Winnie-the-Pooh), Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton; the controversial D. H. Lawrence; modernist Virginia Woolf; the satirist Evelyn Waugh; the prophetic novelist George Orwell; the popular novelists W. Somerset Maugham and Graham Greene; the crime writer Agatha Christie (the best-selling novelist of all time);[367] Ian Fleming (the creator of James Bond); the poets T. S. Eliot, Philip Larkin and Ted Hughes; and the fantasy writers J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis and J. K. Rowling.
Scotland's contributions include the detective writer Arthur Conan Doyle (the creator of Sherlock Holmes), romantic literature by Sir Walter Scott, children's writer J.M. Barrie, the epic adventures of Robert Louis Stevenson and the celebrated poet Robert Burns. More recently the modernist and nationalist Hugh MacDiarmid and Neil M. Gunn contributed to the Scottish Renaissance. A more grim outlook is found in Ian Rankin's stories and the psychological horror-comedy of Iain Banks. Scotland's capital, Edinburgh, was UNESCO's first worldwide City of Literature.[368]
Britain's oldest known poem, Y Gododdin, was composed in Yr Hen Ogledd (The Old North), most likely in the late 6th century. It was written in Cumbric or Old Welsh and contains the earliest known reference to King Arthur.[369] From around the seventh century, the connection between Wales and the Old North was lost, and the focus of Welsh-language culture shifted to Wales, where Arthurian legend was further developed by Geoffrey of Monmouth.[370] Wales's most celebrated medieval poet, Dafydd ap Gwilym (fl 1320–1370), composed poetry on themes including nature, religion and especially love. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest European poets of his age.[371] Until the late 19th century the majority of Welsh literature was in Welsh and much of the prose was religious in character. Daniel Owen is credited as the first Welsh-language novelist, publishing Rhys Lewis in 1885. The best-known of the Anglo-Welsh poets are both Thomases. Dylan Thomas became famous on both sides of the Atlantic in the mid-20th century. The Swansea writer is remembered for his poetry – his "Do not go gentle into that good night; Rage, rage against the dying of the light." is one of the most quoted couplets of English language verse – and for his 'play for voices', Under Milk Wood. Influential Church in Wales 'poet-priest' and Welsh nationalist, R. S. Thomas, was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1996. Leading Welsh novelists of the twentieth century include Richard Llewellyn and Kate Roberts.[372][373]
Authors of other nationalities, particularly from Commonwealth countries, the Republic of Ireland and the United States, have lived and worked in the UK. Significant examples through the centuries include Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, George Bernard Shaw, Joseph Conrad, T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound and more recently British authors born abroad such as Kazuo Ishiguro and Sir Salman Rushdie.[374][375]
Various styles of music are popular in the UK from the indigenous folk music of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to heavy metal. Notable composers of classical music from the United Kingdom and the countries that preceded it include William Byrd, Henry Purcell, Sir Edward Elgar, Gustav Holst, Sir Arthur Sullivan (most famous for working with librettist Sir W.S. Gilbert), Ralph Vaughan Williams and Benjamin Britten, pioneer of modern British opera. Sir Peter Maxwell Davies is one of the foremost living composers and current Master of the Queen's Music. The UK is also home to world-renowned symphonic orchestras and choruses such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the London Symphony Chorus. Notable conductors include Sir Simon Rattle, John Barbirolli and Sir Malcolm Sargent. Some of the notable film score composers include John Barry, Clint Mansell, Mike Oldfield, John Powell, Craig Armstrong, David Arnold, John Murphy, Monty Norman and Harry Gregson-Williams. George Frideric Handel, although born German, was a naturalised British citizen[379] and some of his best works, such as Messiah, were written in the English language.[380] Andrew Lloyd Webber has achieved enormous worldwide commercial success and is a prolific composer of musical theatre, works which have dominated London's West End for a number of years and have travelled to Broadway in New York.[381]
The Beatles have international sales of over one billion units and are the biggest-selling and most influential band in the history of popular music.[376][377][378][382] Other prominent British contributors to have influenced popular music over the last 50 years include; The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Queen, the Bee Gees, and Elton John, all of whom have world wide record sales of 200 million or more.[383][384][385][386][387][388] The Brit Awards are the BPI's annual music awards, and some of the British recipients of the Outstanding Contribution to Music award include; The Who, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart and The Police.[389] More recent UK music acts that have had international success include Coldplay, Radiohead, Oasis, Muse, Spice Girls, Amy Winehouse and Adele.[390]
A number of UK cities are known for their music. Acts from Liverpool have had more UK chart number one hit singles per capita (54) than any other city worldwide.[391] Glasgow's contribution to music was recognised in 2008 when it was named a UNESCO City of Music, one of only three cities in the world to have this honour.[392]
The history of British visual art forms part of western art history. Major British artists include: the Romantics William Blake, John Constable, Samuel Palmer and J.M.W. Turner; the portrait painters Sir Joshua Reynolds and Lucian Freud; the landscape artists Thomas Gainsborough and L. S. Lowry; the pioneer of the Arts and Crafts Movement William Morris; the figurative painter Francis Bacon; the Pop artists Peter Blake, Richard Hamilton and David Hockney; the collaborative duo Gilbert and George; the abstract artist Howard Hodgkin; and the sculptors Antony Gormley, Anish Kapoor and Henry Moore. During the late 1980s and 1990s the Saatchi Gallery in London helped to bring to public attention a group of multi-genre artists who would become known as the "Young British Artists": Damien Hirst, Chris Ofili, Rachel Whiteread, Tracey Emin, Mark Wallinger, Steve McQueen, Sam Taylor-Wood and the Chapman Brothers are among the better-known members of this loosely affiliated movement.
The Royal Academy in London is a key organisation for the promotion of the visual arts in the United Kingdom. Major schools of art in the UK include: the six-school University of the Arts London, which includes the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and Chelsea College of Art and Design; Goldsmiths, University of London; the Slade School of Fine Art (part of University College London); the Glasgow School of Art; the Royal College of Art; and The Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art (part of the University of Oxford). The Courtauld Institute of Art is a leading centre for the teaching of the history of art. Important art galleries in the United Kingdom include the National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, Tate Britain and Tate Modern (the most-visited modern art gallery in the world, with around 4.7 million visitors per year).[393]
The United Kingdom has had a considerable influence on the history of the cinema. The British directors Alfred Hitchcock and David Lean are among the most critically acclaimed of all-time,[394] with other important directors including Charlie Chaplin, Michael Powell, Carol Reed and Ridley Scott.[395][396][397][398] Many British actors have achieved international fame and critical success, including: Julie Andrews, Richard Burton, Michael Caine, Charlie Chaplin, Sean Connery, Vivien Leigh, David Niven, Laurence Olivier, Peter Sellers and Kate Winslet.[399][400][401][402][403][404][405][406][407][408] Some of the most commercially successful films of all time have been produced in the United Kingdom, including the two highest-grossing film franchises (Harry Potter and James Bond).[409] Ealing Studios has a claim to being the oldest continuously working film studio in the world.[410]
Despite a history of important and successful productions, the industry has often been characterised by a debate about its identity and the level of American and European influence. Many British films are co-productions with American producers, often using both British and American actors, and British actors feature regularly in Hollywood films. Many successful Hollywood films have been based on British people, stories or events, including Titanic, The Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the 'English Cycle' of Disney animated films which include, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and Robin Hood.[411]
In 2009 British films grossed around $2 billion worldwide and achieved a market share of around 7% globally and 17% in the United Kingdom.[412] UK box-office takings totalled £944 million in 2009, with around 173 million admissions.[412] The British Film Institute has produced a poll ranking of what it considers to be the 100 greatest British films of all time, the BFI Top 100 British films.[413] The annual British Academy Film Awards, hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, are the British equivalent of the Oscars.[414]
The BBC, founded in 1922, is the UK's publicly funded radio, television and Internet broadcasting corporation, and is the oldest and largest broadcaster in the world. It operates numerous television and radio stations in the UK and abroad and its domestic services are funded by the television licence.[415][416] Other major players in the UK media include ITV plc, which operates 11 of the 15 regional television broadcasters that make up the ITV Network,[417] and News Corporation, which owns a number of national newspapers through News International such as the most popular tabloid The Sun and the longest-established daily "broadsheet" The Times,[418] as well as holding a large stake in satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting.[419] London dominates the media sector in the UK: national newspapers and television and radio are largely based there, although Manchester is also a significant national media centre. Edinburgh and Glasgow, and Cardiff, are important centres of newspaper and broadcasting production in Scotland and Wales respectively.[420] The UK publishing sector, including books, directories and databases, journals, magazines and business media, newspapers and news agencies, has a combined turnover of around £20 billion and employs around 167,000 people.[421]
In 2009 it was estimated that individuals viewed a mean of 3.75 hours of television per day and 2.81 hours of radio. In that year the main BBC public service broadcasting channels accounted for an estimated 28.4% of all television viewing; the three main independent channels accounted for 29.5% and the increasingly important other satellite and digital channels for the remaining 42.1%.[422] Sales of newspapers have fallen since the 1970s and in 2009 42% of people reported reading a daily national newspaper.[423] In 2010 82.5% of the UK population were Internet users, the highest proportion amongst the 20 countries with the largest total number of users in that year.[424]
The United Kingdom is famous for the tradition of 'British Empiricism', a branch of the philosophy of knowledge that states that only knowledge verified by experience is valid, and 'Scottish Philosophy', sometimes referred to as the 'Scottish School of Common Sense'.[425] The most famous philosophers of British Empiricism are John Locke, George Berkeley and David Hume; while Dugald Stewart, Thomas Reid and William Hamilton were major exponents of the Scottish "common sense" school. Two Britons are also notable for a theory of moral philosophy utilitarianism, first used by Jeremy Bentham and later by John Stuart Mill in his short work Utilitarianism.[426][427] Other eminent philosophers from the UK and the unions and countries that preceded it include Duns Scotus, John Lilburne, Mary Wollstonecraft, Sir Francis Bacon, Adam Smith, Thomas Hobbes, William of Ockham, Bertrand Russell and A.J. "Freddie" Ayer. Foreign-born philosophers who settled in the UK include Isaiah Berlin, Karl Marx, Karl Popper and Ludwig Wittgenstein.
Major sports, including association football, rugby league, rugby union, rowing, boxing, badminton, cricket, tennis, darts and golf, originated or were substantially developed in the United Kingdom and the states that preceded it. A 2003 poll found that football is the most popular sport in the United Kingdom.[429] In most international competitions, separate teams represent England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland usually field a single team representing all of Ireland, with notable exceptions including at the Commonwealth Games and association football. (In sporting contexts, these teams can be referred to collectively as the Home Nations.) However there are occasions where a single sports team represents the United Kingdom, including at the Olympics where the UK is represented by the Great Britain team. London was the site of the 1908 and 1948 Olympic Games, and in 2012 will become the first city to play host for a third time.
Each of the Home Nations has its own football association, national team and league system, though a few clubs play outside their country's respective systems for a variety of historical and logistical reasons. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland compete as separate countries in international competition and, as a consequence, the UK does not compete as a team in football events at the Olympic Games.[430] There are proposals to have a UK team take part in the 2012 Summer Olympics but the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish football associations have declined to participate, fearing that it would undermine their independent status – a fear confirmed by FIFA president Sepp Blatter.[431] England has been the most successful of the home nations winning the World Cup on home soil in 1966, although there has historically been a close-fought rivalry between England and Scotland.
Cricket was invented in England. The England cricket team, controlled by the England and Wales Cricket Board,[432] is the only national team in the UK with Test status. Team members are drawn from the main county sides, and include both English and Welsh players. Cricket is distinct from football and rugby where Wales and England field separate national teams, although Wales had fielded its own team in the past. Irish and Scottish players have played for England because neither Scotland nor Ireland have Test status and have only recently started to play in One Day Internationals.[433][434] Scotland, England (and Wales), and Ireland (including Northern Ireland) have competed at the Cricket World Cup, with England reaching the finals on three occasions. There is a professional league championship in which clubs representing 17 English counties and 1 Welsh county compete.[435] Rugby league is a popular sport in some areas of the UK. It originates in Huddersfield and is generally played in Northern England.[436] A single 'Great Britain Lions' team had competed in the Rugby League World Cup and Test match games, but this changed in 2008 when England, Scotland and Ireland competed as separate nations.[437] Great Britain is still being retained as the full national team for Ashes tours against Australia, New Zealand and France. The highest form of professional rugby league in the UK and Europe is Super League where there are 11 teams from Northern England, 1 from London, 1 from Wales and 1 from France. Rugby union is organised on a separate basis for England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, each has a top-ranked international team and were collectively known as the Home Nations. The Six Nations Championship, played between the Home Nations as well as Italy and France, is the premier international tournament in the northern hemisphere.[438] The Triple Crown is awarded to any of the Home Nations who beats the other three in that tournament.[439]
The game of lawn tennis first originated in the city of Birmingham between 1859 and 1865.[440] The Championships, Wimbledon are international tennis events held in Wimbledon in south London every summer and are regarded as the most prestigious event of the global tennis calendar. Snooker is one of the UK's popular sporting exports, with the world championships held annually in Sheffield.[441] In Northern Ireland Gaelic football and hurling are popular team sports, both in terms of participation and spectating, and Irish expatriates throughout the UK and the US also play them.[442] Shinty (or camanachd) is popular in the Scottish Highlands.[443]
Thoroughbred racing, which originated under Charles II of England as the "sport of kings", is popular throughout the UK with world-famous races including the Grand National, the Epsom Derby, Royal Ascot and the Cheltenham National Hunt Festival (including the Cheltenham Gold Cup). The UK has proved successful in the international sporting arena in rowing. Golf is the sixth most popular sport, by participation, in the UK. Although The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews in Scotland is the sport's home course,[444] the world's oldest golf course is actually Musselburgh Links' Old Golf Course.[445]
The UK is closely associated with motorsport. Many teams and drivers in Formula One (F1) are based in the UK, and drivers from Britain have won more world titles than any other country. The UK hosted the very first F1 Grand Prix in 1950 at Silverstone, the current location of the British Grand Prix held each year in July. The country also hosts legs of the World Rally Championship and has its own touring car racing championship, the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC).[446]
The flag of the United Kingdom is the Union Flag (also referred to as the Union Jack). It was first created in 1606 by the superimposition of the Flag of England on the Flag of Scotland and updated in 1801 with the addition of Saint Patrick's Flag. Wales is not represented in the Union Flag as Wales had been conquered and annexed to England prior to the formation of the United Kingdom; the possibility of redesigning the Union Flag to include representation of Wales has not been completely ruled out.[447] The national anthem of the United Kingdom is "God Save the King", with "King" replaced with "Queen" in the lyrics whenever the monarch is a woman.
Britannia is a national personification of the United Kingdom, originating from Roman Britain.[448] Britannia is symbolised as a young woman with brown or golden hair wearing a Corinthian helmet and white robes. She holds Poseidon's three-pronged trident and a shield, bearing the Union Flag. Sometimes she is depicted as riding on the back of a lion. At and since the height of the British Empire, Britannia has often been associated with maritime dominance, as in the patriotic song "Rule, Britannia!". Up until 2008, the lion symbol is depicted behind Britannia on the British fifty pence coin and on the back of the British ten pence coin. It is also used as a symbol on the non-ceremonial flag of the British Army. The bulldog is sometimes used as a symbol of the United Kingdom and has been associated with Winston Churchill's defiance of Nazi Germany.[449]
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