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The UK Is a Country Made of Countries

50 videos recommended on HN
YouTube
6 HN users recommended this explainer8 months2015–2023 score 10
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN recommends it as the standard short answer whenever someone confuses Britain, the UK and England.

CGP Grey's quick, witty explainer on the differences between the United Kingdom, Great Britain and England, and the countries that make up the UK.

“The best thing to do is to watch this great, quick and witty primer on the whole thing Britain/UK/England thing” (HN, 2015)

4 strong recommendations · 4 recommendations · Explainers

8 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@Twirrim May 2015 Strongly recommends
on HN thread So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
Ireland is not part of the UK, but it is part of Britain. Northern Ireland is part of the UK, but that's a completely different country from Ireland. Being UK born or based gives you no privileges over the .ie domain at all. The best thing to do is to watch this great, quick and witty primer on the whole thing Britain/UK/England thing: [this video]
Quick witty primer on Britain, UK and England differences
@bmelton Sep 2017 Strongly recommends
on HN thread The Equifax breach may be the worst leak of personal info ever
Others have already chimed in here, but I honestly can't remember a CGP Grey video that I wasn't thoroughly entertained by, even when I already knew all of the facts presented. For amusement's sake, I really enjoy his videos on geography, such as (his first video ever) this one on the UK (which I guess might need updating soon?): [this video] or this one on Scotland: [link] or my favorite geographical video, on the Vatican: [link] That said, they're all pretty great, so I'd just start with this list of all his videos in ascending order: [this video]
Entertaining geography video, Grey's first ever
@SapporoChris May 2019 Strongly recommends
on HN thread China’s vast fleet is tipping the balance in the Pacific
Thank you so much for the introduction to CGP Grey. Watching 'The Difference between the United Kingdom, Great Britain and England Explained' [this video] The line, "While you can call them all British it's not recommended as the four countries generally do not like each other." hooked me, I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. Rest of my day is gone watching these videos, I'm down the rabbit hole.
Funny explainer on UK, Great Britain and England
@lathiat Jul 2016 Recommends
on HN thread Britain explained in 105 seconds
Relatedly unrelated.. if you want to understand the relationship between Great Britain, the UK, Scotland, England, etc.. then this CGP Grey video helps a lot: [this video]
Clarifies relationship between Britain, UK, Scotland, England
@anexprogrammer Dec 2016 Recommends
on HN thread EveryPolitician: Open dataset on politicians
> having the UK, Wales and Scotland all on the list is somewhat confusing Why? UK is comprised of countries with their own legislatures (with devolved and varying powers). England doesn't. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have parliaments, and their own politicians so need an entry. They all elect MPs to the Westminster UK parliament as well. Just as all these areas elect EU MEPs too. CGP Grey explains UK: [this video]
Explains the UK's constituent countries
@lathiat Oct 2019 Recommends
on HN thread The Isle of Man is not in the UK
CGP Grey has a great video: "The Difference between the United Kingdom, Great Britain and England Explained" which covers a lot of this. [this video]
Covers differences between UK, Great Britain and England

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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