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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Is there cultural differences between the 4 countries of the UK?

234 replies

Lynsey953 · 20/03/2025 20:59

I often see a lot on the news about British Culture and UK culture but I know that Scotland has a different education system to England and Wales as well as higher taxes paid to the government and a lot of "free" things paid for by these taxes i.e. free prescriptions, free university tuition etc ... A lot of people in Scotland also identify as Scottish, not British. Do you think this means Scottish people have a different cultural identity than English or Welsh people?

OP posts:
MarkingBad · 13/05/2025 10:53

HamptonPlace · 13/05/2025 10:51

NI is not a country though...

The poster said nation not country.

Nations are large groups of people with a commonality.

HamptonPlace · 13/05/2025 10:54

Tallerandtall · 20/03/2025 23:35

@Lynsey953 yes three of them didn’t fall for the lies of or support the Farage.

Wales did.

JHound · 13/05/2025 10:58

healthybychristmas · 13/05/2025 09:03

It was the British empire not the English empire!

The way some Scottish people like to whitewash their history in this regard…! 😀

KimberleyClark · 13/05/2025 11:14

HamptonPlace · 13/05/2025 10:32

Surely the welsh are just england's pet? Never a kingdom or historical centrala government. Little 'englanders' essentially?

Yes wales has had kings

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hywel_Dda

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodri_Mawr

Hywel Dda - Wikipedia

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hywel_Dda

bombastix · 13/05/2025 11:16

Scotland is very different. The legal system and criminal law is very distinct. That surprises people, but no, not the same.

KimberleyClark · 13/05/2025 11:17

MarkingBad · 13/05/2025 10:51

The Welsh are the most genetically distinct people in the UK.

There were rulers that united Wales at times and parts of England. Until 1282. But to say it's little Englanders is just 🙄unless you are talking about Pembrokeshire

And south Pembrokeshire at that. North Pembrokeshire is much more Welsh.

HamptonPlace · 13/05/2025 12:02

MarkingBad · 13/05/2025 10:53

The poster said nation not country.

Nations are large groups of people with a commonality.

Edited

it's not that simple though! (masters in nationalism, not that makes me above approbation)

ForeveraBluebird · 13/05/2025 12:21

I know many Welsh people in South Pembrokeshire, depends where you go I suppose. Tenby is full of visitors for most of the year.
@HamptonPlace , maybe try reading some books, little england indeed.

user1471516498 · 13/05/2025 12:32

Even within England there are cultural differences, particularly the NE. Also, lots of us are mongrel British. I have a NI father and a Scottish mother and have lived on both sides of the Scottish border. I am just British.

MarkingBad · 13/05/2025 12:41

HamptonPlace · 13/05/2025 12:02

it's not that simple though! (masters in nationalism, not that makes me above approbation)

Depends on the context which it was used. Which as you say you have a master's in the subject you would know well.

MarkingBad · 13/05/2025 12:45

user1471516498 · 13/05/2025 12:32

Even within England there are cultural differences, particularly the NE. Also, lots of us are mongrel British. I have a NI father and a Scottish mother and have lived on both sides of the Scottish border. I am just British.

This is true I'm west mids but live in se, and an ancestry in all 4 countries as are many from industrial areas.

HamptonPlace · 13/05/2025 12:49

MarkingBad · 13/05/2025 12:41

Depends on the context which it was used. Which as you say you have a master's in the subject you would know well.

it's actually a remarkably recent construction though, people didn't this linguistic structure 20 years ago...

Gustavo77 · 13/05/2025 12:52

There are huge differences between the countries.

MarkingBad · 13/05/2025 14:22

HamptonPlace · 13/05/2025 12:49

it's actually a remarkably recent construction though, people didn't this linguistic structure 20 years ago...

What is?

Spanglemum02 · 13/05/2025 14:43

Education and Health are devolved in Wales. Our education system is similar to, but not the same as England. Our GCSE amd A levels still have letter grades, we have Estyn instead of Ofsted etc etc.
I move ot Wales 15 years ago. It's different to England.

unlikelywitch · 13/05/2025 15:25

JaninaDuszejko · 20/03/2025 23:03

So I'm Scottish but have lived in England for most of my adult life. There are multiple cultural differences.

  1. Language. Scots speak Gaelic or Scots.
  2. Education. In Scotland you start school later, and finish earlier. University is 4 years and St Andrews, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh are all older than Durham. The principles behind the Curriculum for Excellence are very different to the principles behind the National Curriculum. Children sit different exams at different ages, and breadth is maintained for longer so there isn't the same two cultures you get in England between the sciences and the humanities. The Scottish private schools are not as elitist as the English private schools and there's a longer history of people bettering themselves through education and empire.
  3. Law. There is the Children's Panel system for children. There are Advocates not Barristers. There's the 'not proven' verdict. The qualifications to practice law are different.
  4. Religion. Scotland is a Presbyterian (Calvinist) protestant country. The church is not hierarchical, there are no bishops and no cathedrals.
  5. Sport. Scots play golf, shinty, curling. We don't play cricket
  6. Politics. The government is devolved in Scotland. Scotland is generally more left leaning than England. Scotland didn't want Brexit.
  7. Marriage. Gravestones have the surname women were born with. The profession of the mother of the bride and groom is included on the marriage certificates.
  8. Most importantly, the water tastes amazingand the Scots talk to everyone

Overly simplistic pish.

Only about 1-2.5% of the population are able to speak Gaelic to some degree. Scots in its original form really isn’t spoken by anyone. Every region/city/town/village has its own dialect and accent but if you ask the vast majority of Scots what language they speak, they would say English.

There are plenty of private schools which are elitist by nature.

Scotland is historically culturally Protestant but this has been in rapid decline for decades. There absolutely are cathedrals - Glasgow (St Mungos), St Giles, St Mary’s. They’re not governed by bishops but retain the title.

Golf is generally a middle class sport, shinty is played in the Highlands, and curling is very niche. Football is very obviously the most popular sport in Scotland as it is in England. Rugby probably second.

I would agree that Scotland is more left leaning and socialist, but 34% of Scots who voted in the EU referendum voted to leave.

The maiden name thing may have been a social or traditional norm at one point but it’s now very much the choice of the family (speaking as someone who’s lost a lot of female relatives in the past 20 years and all have both their married and maiden name on the inscription). It’s definitely not a hard and fast rule.

The Scots don’t “talk to everyone”. A working class Glaswegian is very different to a middle class person from Edinburgh, who’s very different to an islander from North Uist.

Yes, there are obviously cultural differences between the four nations, as there are in all of the different regions within them, but this type of lazy generalising does my fucking nut in.

Sincerely, a Scottish person who actually lives here.

Cumberlandsausagedog · 13/05/2025 15:38

I’m sick of the lazy generalisations too. Any difference in socialist outlook or chattiness or anything else are so marginal to be totally insignificant.

HamptonPlace · 13/05/2025 16:20

MarkingBad · 13/05/2025 14:22

What is?

the specific meanings that people in the UK attribute to the words 'country' and 'nation'. And indeed he usage of the phrase/name United Kingdom/UK has changed extraordinarily in the past generation. Some of this due to devolution of course...

MarkingBad · 13/05/2025 17:01

HamptonPlace · 13/05/2025 16:20

the specific meanings that people in the UK attribute to the words 'country' and 'nation'. And indeed he usage of the phrase/name United Kingdom/UK has changed extraordinarily in the past generation. Some of this due to devolution of course...

But we're not talking about historically

FurierTransform · 13/05/2025 17:04

Yes, for sure there are distinct cultures in wales / scotland / NI. We are more united than we are different though & that's the main thing.

Mummabear04 · 13/05/2025 17:06

You must be English if you are having to ask that question.

HamptonPlace · 13/05/2025 17:11

MarkingBad · 13/05/2025 17:01

But we're not talking about historically

not everyone has the same view on the meaning of those 2 words is essentially the nub.

SquashedSquid · 13/05/2025 17:51

Spanglemum02 · 13/05/2025 14:43

Education and Health are devolved in Wales. Our education system is similar to, but not the same as England. Our GCSE amd A levels still have letter grades, we have Estyn instead of Ofsted etc etc.
I move ot Wales 15 years ago. It's different to England.

As a teacher in Wales, our education system is not similar to England's at all.

MarkingBad · 13/05/2025 18:30

HamptonPlace · 13/05/2025 17:11

not everyone has the same view on the meaning of those 2 words is essentially the nub.

That does not change it's definition

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