To wonder if differences between Scotland and rUK are generally known?

[weescotlass]

I see lots of posts about UK and British issues, that seem to refer to England only.

Is it generally understood that Scotland was a separate country pre 1707 and already had its own legal and education system in place, which were retained on the creation of the United Kingdom?

Therefore house buying, school exams, wills, divorce, university degrees, criminal law, policing etc have real distinct differences.

Are people who use the term UK not aware of the differences when refering/advising on something that affects England only?

Genuinely interested and not meaning to cause an argument. I find the differences really interesting, things like inheritance law when people ask about wills, or issues when a buyer pulls out of buying a house. I don't want to comment on new/current controversial legislation!

@sparkysdream thank you. I thought S1 but a year group calculator said P7... which would feel really strange going from second year of Secondary to Primary school again!

I suppose it's like us as Europeans talking about "the US" as if it is one entity, when in fact every state has its own laws, taxes, etc, and in some cases very little in common with other states. We fully know this, but we still say "In the US..."

I've met southerners with misconceptions about Manchester and anywhere that's not the South East of England so nothing would surprise me!

I think this post is spot on. If you ask most English people where they are from most would say the UK. If you ask a Scottish or Welsh person they would also always say Scottish or Welsh

tbf most posters will it's if they say something that an English poster doesn't understand that is often the issue, not scottish posters purposely being obstinate .

and if you read mumsnet often you usually catch the gist.

Yes, I am aware of many differences between them.
The most impactful day to day one?
24hr shops in Scotland are actually 24hrs, 7 days a week. They don't only open for 6 hrs on a Sunday !

The areas where confusions seems to happen on mn are:

Inheritance
Social services/family law
Tax/benefits
Political choices/voting systems
Education, schools, uni & funding
Conveyancing law

People don't really know the history of the Union that most aspects of life were expected to remain distinct, law, banking/money, religion and education were all kept separate post 1707.

It was only into the 20th century with the expansion of the state that the nations became more aligned with day to day matters.

That was never the original intention of the Union.

Post 1999 devolution the gap is widening again.

Other differences that don't tend to come up here are:

Children's hearings
Scottish bank notes
Legal aid
Courts & lawyers having different names
Scottish breakfast v English breakfast
Outwith
Scots language
Criminal law inc definitions of rape, murder, assault
Mental health law
Contract law, negligence & bankruptcy
Kinship carers, post care leaving support
Toll roads
Prescriptions & eye tests
Age of criminal responsibility and legal maturity/school leaving age

In a discussion about the royal family with my in-laws, they kept referring to the Queen of England (the late queen) and now the new King of England. Eventually I said 'so, not the King of the UK, only England?' To be met with baffled looks and a 'you know what we mean' reply. To be clear, the chat was not just about England in isolation but the whole nation.

Same with Northern Ireland - which is why there are now devolved governments. wales is pretty much England - shut up, you know you are!
when Americans say ‘British’ for example they almost always mean English.

YANBU See also Norn Iron for some legal and other differences - I speak as an ignorant English person.

Most Americans don't know the difference - hence "The King Of England".

I feel that for many people UK=England=London.

Which conveniently makes the rest of us a sort of afterthought.

I think when you have grown up in one system, and lived in that country all your life and all you friends and families have done too, you don't come across differences in a practical sense.

I knew the English education system was different because of talk on telly about GCSEs but despite 10 years living south of the border, still can't get my head around school years and how old a child is when someone talks about "Year 7" because my kids have only ever been educated in the Scottish system.

I think most Scottish people are aware of the differences just because there are so many more people in England/Wales. Even if you've never lived in England or bought a property there you will have seen Homes under the Hammer banging on about leasehold (which isn't a thing here) or seen someone prosecuted on a TV drama for perverting the course of justice which has a different name here. English people aren't as aware because they don't need to be. Similar situation with the Americans, there are 300 million of them and only 60 million of us, so 99% of what they learn is about the US.

It only ever riles me on here when someone piles onto a thread where in the OP the poster has said they are in Scotland to make an irrelevant point about leasehold, or sixth form college, or grammar schools, or the NHS app, or pupil premium or any of the other things which there are in England/Wales and aren't in Scotland.

(Sorry Northern Ireland, you don't get a look in!!)

It's rather like using "American" when they really mean "USA". Brazil is American, along with 34 others.

Yeah sorry, that's lazy. But American is also the adjective for the nationality someone from the United States.

Well America is a continent I don't think it's the same.

you wouldn't call someone from Brazil an American.

you wouldn't call someone from Brazil an American.

They're not African are they?

Come on Ifailed. You'd call them Brazilian. Or at a push, South American or Latin-American. Not just "American", because that is someone from the USA.

they are Brazilian or South American.

That particular one raises my hackles

Queen Anne was (I think) the last Queen of England

Also world war 1 and 2 books and documentaries that talk about England

I remember at school we all used to deface our textbooks by scoring out England and replacing with Britain.

I live in a Black Watch town

There’s 50 million more English people than Scottish. I think it can be assumed unless otherwise specified 🤔

Same as when a man states he’s a man in a post. Should a woman always specifically state she’s a woman too? If she doesn’t, is it because she thinks women are the centre of the world? No, it’s just a waste of time to specify unless it’s different from the typical poster.

On a UK based site the presumption that you're talking to someone from the approx 85+% majority population isn't that silly. If you're one of the exceptions then by all means specify

One thing I know I don’t know is the dates that define the intake for a school year in Scotland. In England it’s everyone born from 1st September to 31 August but what is it in Scotland?
So yes in theory I know but not necessarily the details.