britain

Chances are you've heard a few jokes and a few arguments over the last week about whether Andy Murray is Scottish or British. The old joke is that when he is losing, the English refer to him as Scottish, but when he is winning (like last weekend) he is most definitely British.

If you're not from Britain all the terminology and minor differences can get very confusing. Many other nationalities seem to use the terms ‘English' and ‘British' interchangeably- which is certainly not the case and can get you into a spot of bother.

Indeed, even the New York Times struggled with it this week, announcing Murray's win as one for England rather than Britain, despite the fact Murray is from Scotland:

People complain all around the world. But I would not condemn it. The fact that they are not satisfied with their lives means that they want to move on. It is still better than staying idle and putting up with one's current lot.

It is almost Murphy's Law, or let's call it Erik's law, that there are as many people seeking jobs in London as there are residents (or even more, I would say, because of the number of people commuting to work). But whenever I greet someone new in our house, they will always say that they are looking for a job. I reply: "so are 7 million other people here".

Even if they are doing well, everyone is thinking of a change. But it is natural. Life is moving fast and if we sleep in, we will be overtaken by someone from the long queue with CVs at the manager's desk. I personally hope I will be replaced at SportsDirect by the good-looking Spanish girl interviewed last month.

It has emerged that government ministers are considering taking drastic steps to try and reduce immigration to the UK- a negative advert campaign. The plan would be to emphasise everything that is bad about Britain to try and encourage possible immigrants to stay living in their own countries.

Apparently, in the words of one minister, such a campaign would "correct the impression that the streets here are paved with gold". The measures would be aimed especially at Bulgaria and Romania, where changes in law at the end of this year will allow free immigration from these two new EU countries.

Whilst this is probably just an easy news story and pretty unlikely to ever happen, in true British style it has spawned a whole host of mock advert suggestions. News sources from the Guardian, to the Huffington Post have been asking the British to create their own self-deprecating posters about the bad bits of the UK.

Ranging from the weather, to the drinking culture, and back to the weather, some of them are pretty funny. However, there have also been some genuine adverts over the years playing on this idea.

Below we've gathered a selection of some of the best real and fake adverts questioning the greatness of Britain, all with their tongue very firmly in their cheek:

Britain has been hit by sub-zero temperatures and up to 7 inches of snow over the last few days, with northern and eastern parts of the country particularly suffering/enjoying the cold snap.

London and surrounding areas were sprinkled with snow on Sunday night and Monday morning and, as you'll know if you're near the Capital, are still facing freezing temperatures. However, there is unlikely to be much more of the white stuff falling any time soon.

Amr K. Moufid is an Egyptian student currently studying music in London. Here he looks at the main differences he has noticed between Britain and Egypt:

When I first came to England, it seemed to me that the only thing it had in common with my home country, Egypt, was that they both start with the letter "E". Let me put it this way, moving from Egypt to England might probably be the best way to explain and demonstrate the meaning of ‘culture shock'.

How so? This is what I mean:

Rules & Organization

To start with, Egypt is not big on rules and organization. For example, we don't do traffic lights in Egypt; we keep that to a minimum! Anyone who has ever been to Cairo will tell you that it's an adventure just driving through the streets, never mind trying to cross the street on foot! By the way, we also drive on the opposite side of the road and we have a little thing called lane separators in two way streets.