In properly federal countries like the USA and Australia, the only territory controlled directly by the federal government (if any) is a tiny district surrounding the capital, the logic being that it would be unfair for any one state to have the capital.

In the UK, on the other hand, most of the country is under central control. Additionally, the system is asymmetrical – Northern Ireland has more devolved power than Scotland, and Scotland has more than Wales.

I've just had a look at how the Spanish system works, though, and I'll grant that it does look a lot more like federalism than ours does.