I didn't mean to suggest that Carol doesn't know the difference between the main constituent parts of the UK. Although undoubtedly there are many non-Brits who quite understandably don't know. I was really trying to help by pointing out that one can't presume that there is a single form of British Standard English or that English terms like "public school" would mean the same throughout Britain. There isn't and they don't. Without going into dialects of Scots themselves which is a seperate matter- the form of Standard English spoken in Scotland is generally called Scottish Standard English and has many differences from what we in Scotland sometimes call English Standard English. So English, American English and Scottish English all exist but there is not really a 'British English' as such.

What forms the UK is more complicated than first appears. Basically the UK proper consists of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Prior to the UK - Great Britain itself was formed by the 1707 Union of the Scottish and English kingdoms. Wales at that time was officially (if not popularly) regarded as being part of the English kingdom. Hence it is not represented on the Union Flag. In modern times Wales is again officially recognised as a seperate entity from England and a constituent part of GB. Cornwall has a definite identity which seperates it from other English counties but it is in fact a county of England. The likes of the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are crown dependencies hence are linked to the UK, and the UK represents them in foreign affairs, but they are not actually part of the UK.

Like I said it is complicated :-)