For most of the twentieth century, as David Edgerton shows in his vital and decisive book, “United Kingdom” was a technical term used by statisticians, diplomats and the army, but seldom in a wider context. It was not until the 1960s that historians seeking to foster a progressive national consensus began presenting the “United Kingdom” story in terms of an emancipatory and cohesive welfare state, while underplaying the extent to which it was a bundle of semi-unified nations. Most subjects of Elizabeth II associated the phrase “United Kingdom” with broadcasts of the Eurovision Song Contest: “Royaume-Uni, nul points”. The first three country code top-level domain names allotted in 1985 – .us, .uk and .il – and the spread of email traffic and internet shopping finally brought “uk” into common currency among people living in the British Isles. As to the noun “Britain”, it became the standard usage in politics and historical writing only after 1945. It was – and is – used promiscuously ...
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