So exactly how many countries are there in the world…you think this would be easy to find out. Try it yourself. Open that atlas that your Gran bought you for your last birthday and start counting…whatever answer you get will probably be wrong.

You see the number of countries in the world is constantly changing. For example with the demise of the Soviet Union a whole load of new countries sprang up overnight.

Adding to this confusion is the fact that some countries aren’t recognised by other countries. Again in the former Soviet Union there are three self proclaimed independent states called South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and Transdniester – why haven’t you heard of them...well no-one in the international community will actually recognize that they exist…they obviously don’t know the right people.

And even though most encyclopaedias seem to suggest that there are officially 193 countries in the world ask George Bush he’ll tell you there are only 192. Why…because he doesn’t include Taiwan. You see China claims that Taiwan is actually a province of China…and George doesn’t want to get on the wrong side of the Chinese!!

As King, and as a gesture of goodwill I have decided that I will recognise that there are 193 countries in the world…there you go Taiwan your in! I therefore declare that my country is the 194th country in the world!! Glad that’s settled.