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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and most of the smaller islands within the British Isles. Northern Ireland shares a land border with the Republic of Ireland; otherwise, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea and the Irish Sea. The total area of the United Kingdom is 94,060 square miles (243,610 km2), with an estimated 2022 population of nearly 67 million people.
The United Kingdom has evolved from a series of annexations, unions and separations of constituent countries over several hundred years. The Treaty of Union between the Kingdom of England (which included Wales) and the Kingdom of Scotland in 1707 resulted in their unification to become the Kingdom of Great Britain. Its union in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Most of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which formally adopted its name in 1927. The nearby Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey are not part of the UK, being Crown Dependencies, but the British government is responsible for their defence and international representation.
The UK became the first industrialised country and was the world's foremost power for the majority of the 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly during the "Pax Britannica" between 1815 and 1914. The British Empire, at its height in the 1920s, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's landmass and population, and was the largest empire in history; however, its involvement in the First World War and the Second World War damaged Britain's economic power and a global wave of decolonisation led to the independence of most British colonies. British influence can be observed in the legal and political systems of many of its former colonies, and the UK's culture remains globally influential, particularly in literature, language, music and sport. English is the world's most widely spoken language and the third-most spoken native language.
The UK has the world's sixth-largest economy by nominal gross domestic product (GDP), and the ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. It is a recognised nuclear state and is ranked fourth globally in military expenditure. The UK has been a permanent member of the UN Security Council since its first session in 1946. It is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Council of Europe, the G7, the OECD, NATO, the Five Eyes, AUKUS and the CPTPP. (Full article...)
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Gropecunt Lane was a street name found in English towns and cities during the Middle Ages, believed to be a reference to the prostitution centred on those areas; it was normal practice for a medieval street name to reflect the street's function, or the economic activity taking place within it. Gropecunt, the earliest known use of which is in about 1230, appears to have been derived as a compound of the words "grope" and "cunt". Streets with that name were often in the busiest parts of medieval towns and cities, and at least one appears to have been an important thoroughfare. Variations include Gropecunte, Gropecountelane, Gropecontelane, Groppecountelane, and Gropekuntelane. Although the name was once common throughout England, changes in attitude resulted in it being replaced by more innocuous versions such as Grape Lane. Gropecunt was last recorded as a street name in 1561. (Full article...)
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Penda was a 7th-century King of Mercia, a kingdom in what is today the English Midlands. A pagan at a time when Christianity was taking hold in many of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Penda participated in the defeat of the powerful Northumbrian king Edwin at the Battle of Hatfield Chase in 633; nine years later, he defeated and killed Edwin's eventual successor, Oswald, at the Battle of Maserfield. From this point he was probably the most powerful of the Anglo-Saxon rulers of the time; he defeated the East Angles, drove the king of Wessex into exile for three years, and continued to wage war against the Bernicians of Northumbria. Thirteen years after Maserfield, he suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of the Winwaed in the course of a final campaign against the Bernicians and was killed. (Full article...)
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Did you know -

- ... that even though Australian citizens are no longer British subjects, they can still vote in elections and stand for parliament in the United Kingdom?
- ... that Graham Fraser pioneered cochlear implantation in the United Kingdom?
- ... that the 37-metre-long (121 ft) Burnham Pier is sometimes described as the United Kingdom's shortest?
- ... that many places in the United Kingdom were racially segregated and non-white customers were banned from using spaces and facilities, even though the law never officially permitted such a colour bar?
- ... that ballerina Pippa Moore's last role was as Princess Beatrice, Queen Victoria's youngest daughter?
- ... that Youlgreave in Derbyshire is one of only a few villages in the United Kingdom to be supplied by its own private waterworks?
In the news
- 23 November 2023 – Modern immigration to the United Kingdom
- The Office for National Statistics reports that net migration to the United Kingdom reached a record of 745,000 in 2022, with the vast majority of arrivals being from non-EU countries. (Sky News)
- 21 November 2023 –
- The bodies of four missing teenagers are found in an overturned car near Tremadog, Gwynedd, Wales, United Kingdom. (BBC News)
- 20 November 2023 – UK Covid-19 Inquiry
- Chief Scientific Adviser to the British government during the COVID-19 pandemic, Patrick Vallance, says that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, then finance minister, said "just let people die" during a discussion on a potential second lockdown in late 2020. (Reuters)
- 17 November 2023 – Rohingya genocide case
- Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom formally join the genocide case at the International Court of Justice against Myanmar, accusing Myanmar's military junta of committing genocide against the Rohingya people. (Al Jazeera)
- 15 November 2023 – International reactions to the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
- The UN Security Council passes a resolution calling for humanitarian pauses in the conflict, the establishment of humanitarian corridors, and for the unconditional release of hostages taken by Hamas. Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States abstained. (Al Jazeera)
- 15 November 2023 –
- The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom rules that the British government's Rwanda asylum plan, where illegal immigrants would be relocated to Rwanda for processing and resettlement, is unlawful. (BBC News)
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