The UK is a small but powerful country off the North coast of the European Continent. Despite the geographical seperation, it is part of the EU politically, and therefore is under EU law. Westminster remains sovereign over the UK though, despite power (but not sovereignty) being devolved to Scotland, Wales, NI and London.
It is home to just over 60m people, 50m of which live in England. The largest cities (in this order) are London (8m), Birmingham (1m), Leeds (0.75m), Glasgow (0.6m), Sheffield (0.5m), Bradford (0.45m), Liverpool (0.42m), Edinburgh (0.41m) and Manchester (0.39m). The major cities are in metropolitan regions.
The climate is mild but wet. The wettest areas of the UK are to the west (Highlands, Glasgow, Lake District, Liverpool, Manchester, Wales, Cornwall) and the driest areas to the east (Edinburgh, Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield, London). The warmest areas are to the south and coolest to the north, although localised conditions must be taken into account. Summer temperatures range from 20-35c in the area from the SE to the English border with Scotland, where summer temperatures start to drop to more around 15-28c in summer. Sheffield is warmer than Newquay in summer, Leeds is drier than Barcelona and the sunniest (but not always warmest) regions of the UK are to the immediate east of the pennines.
The main economic centres are London, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and Edinburgh. The main shopping centres are London's West End, Central Leeds, Central Birmingham and Central Glasgow, although there are several out of town malls including Bluewater in Kent, Meadowhall in Sheffield and Trafford Centre in Trafford.
There are several national parks including the Cairngorm Mountains, Lake District, Peak District, Yorkshire Dales, Yorkshire Moors, Snowdonia, Pembrokeshire Coast and the New Forest. Some are easily accesible (Peak District, Yorkshire Dales) where as others are more remote (Cairngorms).
The UK is linked by a comprehensive rail and motorway network. The East Coast Mainline runs London-Leeds-Edinburgh, and the West Coast Mainline runs London-Birmingham-Glasgow. Transpennine services link the northern cities, and Great Western services link Cardiff with London. Stagecoach Midland Mainline operates services between London, the midlands and Leeds. Major ports are located at Dover, Hull, Liverpool and Southampton. Airports include Heathrow, Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester, John Lennon, Leeds Bradford, Edinburgh and Newcastle. Major motorways include the M1 London-Leeds, M6 London-Glasgow, M62 Liverpool-Hull and M4 London-Swansea.
Major student cities include Newcastle, Leeds and Manchester. Northern cities have long been in a period of regeneration to pull themselves out of the post-war industrial decline.