r/europe • u/MarktpLatz Lower Saxony (Germany) • Feb 21 '17

What do you know about... the UK?

This is the sixth part of our ongoing weekly series about the countries of Europe. You can find an overview here.

Todays country:

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The UK is the second most populous state in the EU. Famous for once being the worlds leading power, reigning over a large empire, it has recently taken the decision to exit the EU.

So, what do you know about the UK?

107 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

1.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

20

u/[deleted] Feb 23 '17 edited Feb 23 '17

You bastards reigned over us for 800 years

We now get on very well

We can certainly thank you for us Speaking English (Thank Fuck) but not for the genocide and the invasion

Similar culture to Ireland - Great Craic good fun etc etc

Large working class, Huge class divide

Make shit whiskey

Excellent Economic Policy

Slightly more conservative than rest of Europe - Re Drugs Policy and Gay rights

Great bunch of lads all the same - when you're not talking about nationalism

Fund a useless monarchy for no reason at all

UK Politics tends to believe that they are more important to Europe than Europe is to them and that the U.K. Is very irreplaceable on a global scale. Which is laughable.

4

u/WoddleWang United Kingdom Feb 23 '17

UK Politics tends to believe that they are more important to Europe than Europe is to them and that the U.K. Is very irreplaceable on a global scale. Which is laughable.

Well, we are by far the largest exporter of financial services. Dat shit's pretty important.

5

u/[deleted] Feb 23 '17

Indeed, In Europe anyway (NY&HK I believe come before London on a global scale) however Financial Services aren't location-sensitive, could just as easily relocate to Frankfurt, Dublin or Paris. - As we have quite recently seen with Barclays establishing a new post-Brexit EU HQ in Dublin.

4

u/WoddleWang United Kingdom Feb 23 '17

No, not in Europe. In the world. The UK exports more financial services than any other country. London might be top, not sure, but I'm not only talking about London.

They are location sensitive. There's a reason London is so popular. The business laws in the UK are much more finance-friendly than in France or Germany.

5

u/[deleted] Feb 23 '17

The only statistic I can find to back that up is a 2 year old study by a UK Financial Services Lobby Group called City. However, WB stats quote US as largest and HK banking quotes HK as largest, so no definitive answer.

And yes - financial services are completely transferable. Ireland has fewer restrictions on FinTech & FinServices than the U.K., Yes our infrastructure for them is far less developed but that hasn't stopped HSBC or Barclays moving here. Irish Financial Regulation laws are almost 1:1 to U.K. Financial regulation Lawson most areas and are slightly more comfortable in the more stringent areas.

Similarly, Frankfurt has itself geared up to be the next financial capital of the world.