goodday the countries category is called just that not 'independant countries' wales scotland and england are countries ni is not but that's another matter as they are countries they belong in the countries category perfectly logically in any case this has been discussed repeatedly and the consensus is as if we needed to be told that they are countries despite my opposition to the inclusion of the six counties english wikipedia has followed the political line of the new labour uk government a lie line which is contrary to the belfast agreement i am tempted to agree with the compromise 'category countries of the united kingdom' but would like to hear other people's opinion as well it's disappointing and somewhat surprising that such a significant change has attracted so little comment perhaps what we really need here in the long term is a clearer practical distinction between the terms 'country' and 'sovereign state' britishwatcher says above that he supported and accepted the fact england wales scotland and northern ireland should be called countries but opposes them appearing on lists of countries where only sovereign states are listed therein lies the nub of the problem the argument that although e s and w are in fact countries they should not be listed as countries talk about alice in wonderland