Spain AIUI is like the UK. It contains (at least) the entire nations of Castile and Leon, plus parts of the Basque and Catalan nations.
In the same way the UK is a state containing the entire English, Welsh and Scottish nations plus part of the Irish one.
(Both are oversimplifying)
The difference AIUI (having lived next to it for several years) is that there is probably no single nation that exists entirely within the borders of Belgium.
It's tricky because it's not clear if Flemish/Walloons are Dutch/French respectively (but even if they aren't, they exist outside Belgium)
They send teams to the Commonwealth Games (Mark Cavendish famously competed under the Manx flag)
I knew someone in college who had exam accommodations one year because of a sports injury.
(It was a back injury that meant she needed to periodically get out of her chair and stretch, so took exams in isolation so she could do that without disturbing other candidates)
Their advertising slogan is "Ski good or eat wood".
Seriously.
At one point these were illegal in Amsterdam. Archaeological studies after a stretch of the River Amstel was drained for metro works found a huge pile of them where guards at a gate had been confiscating them and throwing them in the river.
In the place where I lived (the Netherlands) there is. I don't know if that's unusual for mainland Europe, but I don't think it is.
Meanwhile in the UK you don't even need a licence with you *while driving*. If you get pulled over you have a week to bring it to a police station.
If you work for DHS or DoD you get PreCheck for free.
Other departments have to pay out of pocket.
The Japanese ones are officially *destroyers* IIRC.
It's the Soviet/Russian carriers that are officially cruisers to allow transit through the Bosphorus.
For example, when I learned to ski in New England in the 90s, a day ticket was about $50 and a season pass for just that mountain was well over $1000. Now, at the same mountain, a day ticket is $180 but a season pass was under $800 (and works at a bunch of other places).
It's a weird business model- it's relatively cheap if you ski a lot and decide where you're going the summer before, but insanely expensive if you decide in February "let's go skiing tomorrow". Most frequent skiers buy some kind of season pass.
Do you believe that the Netherlands is civilized?
Because they vote on Wednesdays.
(The UK also votes on Thursdays, but I know now not to ask loud online Germans who think their way is universally correct about the UK)
I think the people I know from both Woking and West Virginia would be surprised at that comparison.
The closest US equivalent of Woking is probably somewhere in Connecticut?
The thing that surprises me is that even though they grow tobacco in Upper Marlboro, MD, or at least used to, the cigarette company is named (indirectly) after the duke.
That's a situation that they choose to be in, along with similar services of other maritime nations like the Dutch KNRM.
Government funding would come with government interference, and AIUI they have refused it when offered.
They have official status when they need it (such as blue lights)
This is of course not to detract from the courage and skill of US Coast Guard lifeboat and SAR crews.
"You have to go out, but you don't have to come back"
The RNLI doesn't have its own aircraft (and SAR aircraft in the UK have had their own privatization issues) but I agree that it's one of the things the UK does best, and that keeping lifesaving and law enforcement separate is extremely important.
Is a slithy tove related to a Shrove, a dialect word for the same thing, or something different?
I ask because the last time I tried to catch a Shrove, I missed because it gyred when I thought it would gimble.
The UK does also have what is probably the best club/amateur rowing scene in the world even if you ignore the clubs attached to schools and universities. Essentially every stretch of rowable water in the country has a club on it, often more than one.
Dr. Susan Kegeles, a retired professor, pulls a Trump supporter off his e-bike by the hair after he threatened Tesla protesters with a stun gun.
You may be missing one
Wondering if it's alcohol or the way people behave when drinking (noise, stimulation, etc)?
Do you feel this way after being in a kitchen where food containing alcohol is being cooked? I imagine that has more alcohol in the air than a bar or party does.
(Not an MD, do have a biochem PhD)
The Cheshire inquest is what we were reading the reports on.
It has just returned its verdict- it ruled that on the balance of probabilities it was gross negligence manslaughter.
He could in theory be prosecuted in Britain for this, not sure if he will be.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
It can do, particularly if they are British citizens. Most countries AIUI can charge their citizens with crimes committed abroad under certain circumstances.
Has it been confirmed that he's British?
All I've seen is news articles that imply it by saying he "moved" rather than "returned" to the US.
This is important because if he is, it's much more possible for him to be charged with murder in an English court.
The shooting was over a year ago, we're hearing about it now because of an English coroner's inquest.
This will almost certainly return a verdict of unlawful killing given that even his version of events is probably gross negligence manslaughter (pointing a loaded gun at someone while drunk).
The question I haven't seen answered is whether he's British.
News reports say he "moved to Texas" but not clear if he was returning to the US or immigrating.
An English court could claim jurisdiction to try him for murder either way, but it's a lot easier if he's a British citizen.
I have seen it seriously argued by experts that a pilot choosing to operate a flight with passengers shackled to the plane is breaking international law and could lose their license- the plane is unsafe, and the pilot is required to refuse to fly it.
Of course "outside the UK" should also have meant outside any other Commonwealth Realm- she visited those countries as their sovereign not as a diplomat.
I think that by the nature of her position the Queen was *always* a diplomat when outside the UK.
She didn't need accreditation for the same reason that she didn't have a passport- both were communications from her, that if she was there she could deliver in person.
There are probably countries with a mild enough climate that it's never possible to *freeze* to death sleeping outdoors.
