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Postmaster General

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40-635: A Postmaster General , in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters . The practice of having a government official responsible for overseeing the delivery of mail throughout the nation originated in England . A 'Master of the Posts' is mentioned in the King's Book of Payments , with

80-545: A core group of nations that today maintain close political, diplomatic and military co-operation. While the nations included in different sources vary, the Anglosphere is usually not considered to include all countries where English is an official language, so it is not synonymous with the sphere of anglophones , though commonly included nations are those that were formerly part of the British Empire and retained

120-669: A country. This situation tends to lower the ranking of some of the most advanced countries, such as the G7 members and others. According to the United Nations Statistics Division : There is no established convention for the designation of "developed" and "developing" countries or areas in the United Nations system. And it notes that: The designations "developed" and "developing" are intended for statistical convenience and do not necessarily express

160-662: A group of officials from major creditor countries whose role is to find coordinated and sustainable solutions to the payment difficulties experienced by debtor countries. 15 countries in Europe: three countries in the Americas: three countries in Asia: one country in Oceania: Comparative table of countries with a "very high" human development (0.800 or higher), according to UNDP ; "advanced" economies, according to

200-799: A judgement about the stage reached by a particular country or area in the development process. Nevertheless, the UN Trade and Development considers that this categorization can continue to be applied: The developed economies broadly comprise Northern America and Europe, Israel, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. Terms linked to the concept developed country include "advanced country", "industrialized country", "more developed country" (MDC), "more economically developed country" (MEDC), " Global North country", " first world country", and "post-industrial country". The term industrialized country may be somewhat ambiguous, as industrialisation

240-640: A payment of £ 100 being authorised for Sir Brian Tuke as 'Master of the King's Post' in February 1512. In 1517, he was appointed to the office of 'Governor of the King's Posts', a precursor to the office of Postmaster General of the United Kingdom , by Henry VIII . In 1609, it was decreed that letters could only be carried and delivered by persons authorised by the Postmaster General. In

280-465: A union of English-speaking peoples, and I believe this to be a romantic illusion". In 2016, Nick Cohen wrote in an article titled "It's a Eurosceptic fantasy that the 'Anglosphere' wants Brexit" for The Spectator ' s Coffee House blog: " 'Anglosphere' is just the right's PC replacement for what we used to call in blunter times 'the white Commonwealth '." He repeated this criticism in another article for The Guardian in 2018. Similar criticism

320-611: Is a sovereign state that has a high quality of life , developed economy , and advanced technological infrastructure relative to other less industrialized nations. Most commonly, the criteria for evaluating the degree of economic development are the gross domestic product (GDP), gross national product (GNP), the per capita income , level of industrialization, amount of widespread infrastructure and general standard of living. Which criteria are to be used and which countries can be classified as being developed are subjects of debate. Different definitions of developed countries are provided by

360-547: Is an official language, so it is not synonymous with anglophone . The definition is usually taken to include Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States in a grouping of developed countries called the core Anglosphere . The term Anglosphere can also more widely encompass Ireland , Malta and the Commonwealth Caribbean countries. The five core countries in

400-498: Is an ongoing process that is hard to define. The first industrialized country was the United Kingdom , followed by Belgium . Later it spread further to Germany , United States , France and other Western European countries. According to some economists such as Jeffrey Sachs , however, the current divide between the developed and developing world is largely a phenomenon of the 20th century. Mathis Wackernagel calls

440-598: Is necessary for the defeat of Islamism . According to a 2003 profile in The Guardian , historian Robert Conquest favoured a British withdrawal from the European Union in favour of creating "a much looser association of English-speaking nations, known as the 'Anglosphere ' ". Favourability ratings tend to be overwhelmingly positive between countries within a subset of the core Anglosphere known as CANZUK (consisting of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and

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480-567: Is protected by law or constitution. Market freedom is high in the five core Anglosphere countries, as all five share the Anglo-Saxon economic model – a capitalist model that emerged in the 1970s based on the Chicago school of economics with origins from the 18th century United Kingdom. The shared sense of globalisation led cities such as New York , London , Los Angeles , Sydney , and Toronto to have considerable impacts on

520-757: The New York Review of Books , that the term neglects the evolution of fundamental legal and cultural differences between the US and the UK, and the ways in which UK and European norms drew closer together during Britain's membership in the EU through regulatory harmonisation . Of Conquest's view of the Anglosphere, Ignatieff writes: "He seems to believe that Britain should either withdraw from Europe or refuse all further measures of cooperation, which would jeopardize Europe's real achievements. He wants Britain to throw in its lot with

560-475: The Human Development Index (HDI), which combines an economic measure, national income, with other measures, indices for life expectancy and education has become prominent. This criterion would define developed countries as those with a very high (HDI) rating. The index, however, does not take into account several factors, such as the net wealth per capita or the relative quality of goods in

600-476: The IMF . Economic criteria have tended to dominate discussions. One such criterion is the income per capita; countries with the high gross domestic product (GDP) per capita would thus be described as developed countries. Another economic criterion is industrialisation ; countries in which the tertiary and quaternary sectors of industry dominate would thus be described as developed. More recently, another measure,

640-548: The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank ; moreover, HDI ranking is used to reflect the composite index of life expectancy, education, and income per capita. In 2023 , 40 countries fit all four criteria, while an additional 19 countries fit three out of four. Developed countries have generally more advanced post-industrial economies, meaning the service sector provides more wealth than

680-415: The industrial sector . They are contrasted with developing countries , which are in the process of industrialisation or are pre-industrial and almost entirely agrarian , some of which might fall into the category of Least Developed Countries . As of 2023 , advanced economies comprise 57.3% of global GDP based on nominal values and 41.1% of global GDP based on purchasing-power parity (PPP) according to

720-520: The Anglosphere are developed countries that maintain close cultural and diplomatic links with one another. They are aligned under such military and security programmes as: Relations have traditionally been warm between Anglosphere countries, with bilateral partnerships such as those between Australia and New Zealand , the United States and Canada and the United States and the United Kingdom (the Special Relationship ) constituting

760-398: The Anglosphere refers, show no serious inclination to join the UK in forging new political and economic alliances. They will, most likely, continue to work within existing regional and international institutions and remain indifferent to – or simply perplexed by – calls for some kind of formalised Anglosphere alliance. Developed country A developed country , or advanced country ,

800-502: The Anglosphere. The first is finding ways to cope with rapid technological advancement and the second is the geopolitical challenges created by what he assumes will be an increasing gap between anglophone prosperity and economic struggles elsewhere. British historian Andrew Roberts claims that the Anglosphere has been central in the First World War , Second World War and Cold War . He goes on to contend that anglophone unity

840-604: The English language and English common law . The five core countries of the Anglosphere are usually taken to be Australia , Canada , New Zealand , the United Kingdom , and the United States . These countries enjoy close cultural and diplomatic links with one another and are aligned under military and security programmes such as Five Eyes . The Anglosphere is the Anglo-American sphere of influence. The term

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880-473: The Fellows of All Souls at Oxford. The American businessman James C. Bennett , a proponent of the idea that there is something special about the cultural and legal ( common law ) traditions of English-speaking nations, writes in his 2004 book The Anglosphere Challenge : The Anglosphere, as a network civilization without a corresponding political form, has necessarily imprecise boundaries. Geographically,

920-486: The HDI accounts for more than income or productivity. Unlike GDP per capita or per capita income, the HDI takes into account how income is turned "into education and health opportunities and therefore into higher levels of human development." Since 1990, Norway (2001–2006, 2009–2019), Japan (1990–1991 and 1993), Canada (1992 and 1994–2000) and Iceland (2007–2008) have had the highest HDI score. The following countries in

960-529: The IMF's list of 38 Advanced Economies, noting that the IMF's Advanced Economies list "would presumably also cover the following nine smaller countries of Andorra, Bermuda, Faroe Islands, Guernsey, Holy See, Jersey, Liechtenstein, Monaco, and San Marino[...]". San Marino (2012) and Andorra (2021) were later included in the IMF's list. There are 22 permanent members in the Paris Club ( French : Club de Paris ),

1000-556: The Pacific: According to the World Bank , the following 85 sovereign states and territories across are classified as "high income" economies , having a nominal GDP per capita in excess of $ 14,005 as of 2024: Unsovereign Territories are denoted with an asterisk (*) . There are 29 OECD member countries and the European Union —in the Development Assistance Committee (DAC), a group of

1040-515: The UK . As a consequence, most core Anglosphere countries have politics dominated by two major parties . Below is a table comparing the five core countries of the Anglosphere (data for 2022/2023): Due to their historic links, the Anglosphere countries share many cultural traits that still persist today. Most countries in the Anglosphere follow the rule of law through common law rather than civil law , and favour democracy with legislative chambers above other political systems. Private property

1080-782: The United Kingdom), whose members form part of the Commonwealth of Nations and retain Charles III as head of state. In the wake of the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union (Brexit) as a result of a referendum held in 2016 , there has been mounting political and popular support for a loose free travel and common market area to be formed among the CANZUK countries. In 2000, Michael Ignatieff wrote in an exchange with Robert Conquest , published by

1120-719: The United Kingdom, the office of Postmaster General was abolished in 1969. It was replaced by the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications . In 2000, its functions were transferred to the Secretary of State at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). International equivalents include: Anglosphere The Anglosphere , also known as the Anglo-American world , is the Anglo - American sphere of influence , with

1160-819: The addition of 7 microstates and dependencies modified by the CIA which were omitted from the IMF version: 29 countries and dependencies in Europe classified by the IMF, 6 others given by the CIA: Plus seven countries and territories in Asia : three countries and territories in the Americas classified by the IMF, one territory given by the CIA ;: two countries in Oceania : The CIA has modified an older version of

1200-457: The binary labeling of countries as "neither descriptive nor explanatory. It is merely a thoughtless and destructive endorsement of GDP fetish. In reality, there are not two types of countries, but over 200 countries, all faced with the same laws of nature, yet each with unique features." A 2021 analysis proposes the term emerged to describe markets, economies, or countries that have graduated from emerging market status, but have not yet reached

1240-624: The densest nodes of the Anglosphere are found in the United States and the United Kingdom. English-speaking Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and English-speaking South Africa (who constitute a very small minority in that country) are also significant populations. The English-speaking Caribbean, English-speaking Oceania and the English-speaking educated populations in Africa and India constitute other important nodes. Bennett argues that there are two challenges confronting his concept of

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1280-499: The different national orientations that have emerged in British politics after empire—whether pro-European, Anglo-American, Anglospheric or some combination of these—is that none of them has yet been the compelling, coherent and popular answer to the country's most important question: How should Britain find its way in the wider, modern world? They stated in another article: Meanwhile, the other core English-speaking countries to which

1320-638: The international markets and the global economy . Global popular culture has been highly influenced by the United States and the United Kingdom . Proponents of the Anglosphere concept typically come from the political right (such as Andrew Roberts of the UK Conservative Party ), and critics from the centre-left (for example Michael Ignatieff of the Liberal Party of Canada ). As early as 1897, Albert Venn Dicey proposed an Anglo-Saxon "intercitizenship" during an address to

1360-458: The level equivalent to developed countries. Multinational corporations from these emerging markets present unique patterns of overseas expansion and knowledge acquisition from foreign countries. The UN HDI is a statistical measure that gauges an economy's level of human development. While there is a strong correlation between having a high HDI score and being a prosperous economy, the UN points out that

1400-532: The most successful partnerships in the world. In terms of political systems, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom have Charles III as head of state , form part of the Commonwealth of Nations and use the Westminster parliamentary system of government. Most of the core countries have first-past-the-post electoral systems, though Australia and New Zealand have reformed their systems and there are other systems used in some elections in

1440-436: The world", arguing that former British colonies that retained English common law and the English language have done significantly better than counterparts colonised by other European powers. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the Anglosphere as "the countries of the world in which the English language and cultural values predominate". However the Anglosphere is usually not considered to include all countries where English

1480-504: The world's major donor countries that discusses issues surrounding development aid and poverty reduction in developing countries . The following OECD member countries are DAC members: 25 countries in Europe: two countries in the Americas: two countries in Asia: two countries in Oceania: According to the International Monetary Fund , 41 countries and territories are officially listed as "advanced economies", with

1520-603: The year 2022 are considered to be of "very high human development": annual growth (2010-2022) According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs ' World Economic Situation and Prospects report, the following 37 countries are classified as "developed economies" as of January 2024: 31 countries in Europe: two countries in Northern America: four countries in Asia and

1560-595: Was first coined by the science fiction writer Neal Stephenson in his book The Diamond Age , published in 1995. John Lloyd adopted the term in 2000 and defined it as including English-speaking countries like the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa , and the British West Indies . James C. Bennett defines anglosphere as "the English-speaking Common Law-based nations of

1600-548: Was presented by other critics such as Canadian academic Srđan Vučetić. In 2018, amidst the aftermath of the Brexit referendum , two British professors of public policy Michael Kenny and Nick Pearce published a critical scholarly monograph titled Shadows of Empire: The Anglosphere in British Politics ( ISBN   978-1509516612 ). In one of a series of accompanying opinion pieces, they questioned: The tragedy of

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