2/ So first up Scotland is #geoweird in that it's not really clear what exactly it is. Is it a country? A region? A country within a country?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countries_of_the_United_Kingdom
It's part of the UK , but has its own legal system:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scots_law
Some day we'll do a UK #geoweirdness thread, but be warned it will very, very long. No country (countries?) is/are as odd.