The Off Topic Topic

[Josquius]

Josq, surely it's not too difficult a point to concede that countries other than England have regional differences. Even if we reduce it to Europe only.

That's not a point to concede as its completely irrelevant to the point.
What is being disagreed with here is not that there are differences between different parts of basically every country (or every town even). That's so fucking obvious its ridiculous to think there could be disagreement.
Its that the north of England is more akin to Scotland than it is to the south of England thus rendering the concept of England in a cultural sense pretty pointless.

[Grey Fox]

Where, how & why does that matter?

How different is Scotland to England?

[crazy canuck]

Josq, surely it's not too difficult a point to concede that countries other than England have regional differences. Even if we reduce it to Europe only.

That's not a point to concede as its completely irrelevant to the point.
What is being disagreed with here is not that there are differences between different parts of basically every country (or every town even). That's so fucking obvious its ridiculous to think there could be disagreement.
Its that the north of England is more akin to Scotland than it is to the south of England thus rendering the concept of England in a cultural sense pretty pointless.

I don't understand.  If the north of England is more like the Scottish than the English, aren't you conceding that there is something called England as a cultural concept?

If not, what is the south of England culturally?

[Josquius]

Where, how & why does that matter?

How different is Scotland to England?

That's the point. Saying "British" would be a better solution in most circumstances. You won't find much that is common between the north and south that isn't also the case in Scotland- you will however find far more that is common between Scotland and the north.

I don't understand.  If the north of England is more like the Scottish than the English, aren't you conceding that there is something called English as a cultural concept?

England exists as a legal concept. There is a clear border that can be pointed to.
But if you're talking about differences between the people in the north and south of Britain that's not a very good place to draw your line, you'd be looking 200-250km further south.

If not, what is the south of England culturally?

Sexland :p

[crazy canuck]

People living in the South of Scotland are also different from Northern Scotland. A good argument for moving the border North?

[Grey Fox]

Where, how & why does that matter?

How different is Scotland to England?

That's the point. Saying "British" would be a better solution in most circumstances. You won't find much that is common between the north and south that isn't also the case in Scotland- you will however find far more that is common between Scotland and the north.

I think I finally understand what all of this is about.

No, all yous are England.

[Josquius]

People living in the South of Scotland are also different from Northern Scotland. A good argument for moving the border North?

Absolutely its often worth distinguishing the Highlands and Lowlands. It could be argued there's another border there and 'north Britain' is actually 'middle Britain'.
Though the Highlands does have a pretty low population, especially in the truly distinctive areas (see also Wales), so if one line is to be drawn its the Mersey-Humberish one.