Islands

In total, it is estimated that the UK is made up of over one thousand small islands, some being natural and some being man-made crannogs, which were built in past times using stone and wood and which were enlarged by natural waste building up over time.

Islands of England

Lundy, Isles of Scilly, Isle of Wight, Farne Islands, Lindisfarne, Isle of Portland, Walney Island, Burgh Island, Isle of Sheppey, Mersea Island, Isle of Thanet, Hayling Island, Canvey Island, Isle of Grain, Islands of Scotland , Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands , Fair Isle, Inner Hebrides,Outer Hebrides, Rockall, Bass Rock, Islands of Wales , Anglesey, Skomer Island, Skokholm Island, Ramsey Island.Bardsey Island, Holy Island, Islands of Northern Ireland , Rathlin Island

Climate

The climate of the UK varies, but is generally temperate, though significantly warmer than some other locations at similar latitude, such as central Poland, due to the warming influence of the Gulf Stream. In general, the south is warmer and drier than the north.

The prevailing winds are southwesterly, from the North Atlantic Current. More than 50% of the days are overcast. There are few natural hazards, although there can be strong winds and floods, especially in winter.

Average annual rainfall varies from over 3,000 mm (118.1 in) in the Scottish Highlands down to 553 mm (21.8 in) in Cambridge. The county of Essex is one of the driest in the UK, with an average annual rainfall of around 600 mm (23.6 in), although it typically rains on over 100 days per year. In some years rainfall in Essex can be below 450 mm (17.7 in), less than the average annual rainfall in Jerusalem and Beirut.

The highest temperature recorded in the UK was 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) at Brogdale, near Faversham, in the county of Kent, on 10 August 2003. The lowest was −27.2 °C (−17.0 °F) recorded at Braemar in the Grampian Mountains, Scotland, on 11 February 1895 and 10 January 1982 and Altnaharra, also in Scotland, on 30 December 1995.

National government

The UK is governed as a whole by the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Of the four countries that make the UK, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved administrations and parliaments/assembly:

Northern Ireland - Northern Ireland Assembly

Scotland - Scottish Parliament

Wales - Welsh Assembly

England has no devolved system of government and is governed by UK government ministers and legislated for by the UK parliament. Within England, London has a devolved assembly but proposals for elected Regional Assemblies in England were rejected in the first referendum covering North East England. See Government of England.

The UK (specifically, Northern Ireland) has an international land boundary with the Republic of Ireland of 360 km. There is also a boundary between the jurisdiction of France and of the UK on the Channel Tunnel.

Local government

Each part of the UK is subdivided in further local governmental regions:

England: Unitary Authorities, county councils, district councils, parish councils

Wales: Principal areas, communities

Scotland: Council areas, communities

Northern Ireland: Districts

Historically the UK was divided into counties or shires: administrative areas through which all civil responsibilities of the government were passed. Each county or shire had a county town as its administrative centre and was divided into individual parishes that were defined along ecclesiastic boundaries.

Between 1889 (1890 in Scotland) and 1974, the political boundaries were based on the traditional counties, but due to changes in population centres, the traditional counties became impractical as local government areas in certain highly urbanised areas. The Local Government Act 1972 created a new system of administrative counties, designed to take account of the widely differing populations across different parts of the country.

In the 1990s further population growth led to more political changes on a local level. Unitary authorities were formed across the entire of Scotland and Wales, and in larger cities in England. Many unpopular administrative counties were also abolished at this time, leading to a mixture of two-tier and single-purpose authorities. Further reorganisations are planned if and when regional assemblies in England are revisited in the future.

Economic geography of the United Kingdom

The economic geography of the UK reflects not only its current position in the global economy, but its long history both as a trading nation and an imperial power.

The UK led the industrial revolution and its highly urban character is a legacy of this, with all its major cities being current or former centres of all forms of manufacturing. However, this in turn was built on its exploitation of natural resources, especially coal and iron ore.

Primary industry

The UK's primary industry was once dominated by the coal industry, heavily concentrated in the north, the Midlands and south Wales. This is all but gone and the major primary industry is North Sea oil. Its activity is concentrated on the UK Continental Shelf to the north-east of Scotland.

Manufacturing

The UK's heavy manufacturing drove the industrial revolution. A map of the major UK cities gives a good picture of where this activity occurred, in particular Belfast, Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham.

Today there is no heavy manufacturing industry in which UK-based firms can be considered world leaders. However, the Midlands in particular remains a strong manufacturing centre.

More recently, high technology firms have concentrated largely along the M4 motorway, partly because of access to Heathrow Airport, but also because of agglomeration economies.

Finance and services

Once, every large city had a stock exchange. Now, the UK financial industry is concentrated overwhelmingly in the City of London and Canary Wharf, with back office and administrative operations often dispersed around the south of England. London is one of the world's great financial centres and is usually referred to as a world city. There is also a significant legal and ebusiness industry in Leeds.

Regional disparity

The combined effect of changing economic fortune has contributed to the creation of the so-called North-South divide, in which decaying industrial and ex-industrial areas of the north of England contrast with the wealthy, finance and technology- led southern economy.

This has led successive governments to develop regional policy to try to rectify the imbalance.

This is not to say that the north-south divide is uniform. For instance, some of the worst pockets of deprivation can be found in London, and parts of Cheshire are very wealthy. Nor is the North-South divide limited to the economic sphere; cultural and political divisions weigh heavily too.

Natural resources

Historically, much of the United Kingdom was forested. Since prehistoric times, man has deforested much of the United Kingdom.

Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanised, and efficient by European standards, producing about 60% of food needs with only 1% of the labour force. It contributes around 2% of GDP. Around two thirds of production is devoted to livestock, one third to arable crops.

In 1993, it was estimated that land use was: Arable land: 25 % Permanent crops: 0 % Permanent pastures: 46 % Forests and Woodland: 10 % Other: 19 % Irrigated: 1,080 km²

The UK has a variety of natural resources including:

Geological: coal, petroleum, natural gas, limestone, chalk, gypsum, silica, rock salt, china clay, iron ore, tin, silver, gold, lead.

Agricultural: arable land, wheat, barley, sheep

The UK has large coal, natural gas, and oil reserves; primary energy production accounts for 10% of GDP, one of the highest shares of any industrial nation. Due to the island location of the UK, the country has great potential for generating electricity from wave power and tidal power, although these have not yet been exploited on a commercial basis.

Environment

The United Kingdom is reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It has met Kyoto Protocol target of a 12.5 % reduction from 1990 levels and intends to meet the legally binding target of a 20 % cut in emissions by 2010. By 2015, to recycle or compost at least 33 % of household waste. Between 1998-99 and 1999–2000, household recycling increased from 8.8 % to 10.3 % respectively.