{"href":"http://player.captivate.fm/services/oembed?url=http%3A%2F%2Fplayer.captivate.fm%2Fepisode%2F0009de77-89b3-418f-b20b-d7cbd3359e29","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Captivate.FM","provider_url":"https://www.captivate.fm","width":600,"height":200,"type":"rich","html":"","title":"Episode 175 \u2013 Brexit, Amazon and Unusual Characters","description":"In this episode, we discuss Brexit, Baby Boomers, delivery methods for Corporate Fascism, a limbless preacher, an atheist preacher, the lucky country, Scomo nonsense, a cybersecurity minister who has never used a computer, a 69 year old man who identifies as 49 and a man who identified as Native American only to find out he is Chinese.
\nStephen Fry Summarises Our Podcast
\n4:10
\n\u201cA grand canyon has opened up in our world,\u201d Fry said. On one side is the new right, promoting a bizarre mixture of Christianity and libertarianism; on the other, the \u201cilliberal liberals\u201d, obsessed with identity politics and complaining about things like cultural appropriation. These tiny factions war above, while the rest of us watch, aghast, from the chasm below.
\nor from a small hill like a meerkat on sentry duty.
\nBrexit may lead to the breakup of the UK
\n7:21 But first … what is the UK?
\nWhat\u2019s the Difference Between Great Britain and the United Kingdom?
\nThe names\u00a0Great Britain\u00a0and\u00a0United Kingdom\u00a0are often used interchangeably. However, they are not actually synonymous. The reason for the two names, and the difference between them has to do with the history of the British Isles.
\nThe\u00a0British Isles\u00a0are a group of islands off the northwestern coast of Europe. The largest of these islands are Britain and Ireland. (Smaller ones include the\u00a0Isle of Wight.) In the Middle Ages, the name\u00a0Britain\u00a0was also applied to a small part of France now known as\u00a0Brittany. As a result,\u00a0Great Britain\u00a0came into use to refer specifically to the island. However, that name had no official significance until 1707, when the island\u2019s rival kingdoms of England and Scotland\u00a0were united\u00a0as the Kingdom of Great Britain.
\nIreland, meanwhile, had effectively been an English colony since the 12th century, and after the emergence of Great Britain, it remained under the influence of the British crown. In 1801 it\u00a0formally joined\u00a0with Great Britain as a single political entity, which became known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland\u2014or the United Kingdom for short. However, the union lasted only until 1922, when Ireland (with the exception of\u00a0six counties in the north) seceded.\u00a0Ireland\u00a0soon became a sovereign republic, and its former partner took on the official name of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
\nGreat Britain, therefore, is a geographic term referring to the island also known simply as Britain. It\u2019s also a political term for the part of the United Kingdom made up of\u00a0England,\u00a0Scotland, and\u00a0Wales\u00a0(including the outlying islands that they administer, such as the Isle of Wight).\u00a0United Kingdom, on the other hand, is purely a political term: it\u2019s the independent country that encompasses all of Great Britain and the region now called Northern Ireland.
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\nMAP
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\nGreat Britain versus the United KingdomThe map shows the territories of the British Isles and the names by which they should be referred to.\u00a0
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\nBrexit Update
\nTheresa May’s deal
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\n11:19 The deal describes what Boris Johnson and others have rather old-fashionedly but not inaccurately called \u201cvassalage\u201d.
\n","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/085762e2-797c-4ef4-9b10-434ecde61c07/logo2018v2.jpg"}