> I have always disliked the fact that UK TLD disallows use of .uk,

Nominet have already floated the idea of opening up .UK for top level registration [1]. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they try and milk the market for topical 2LDs either.

I actually think it's a bad idea. Keeping a ccTLDs level reserved seems sensible to me. For instance, only UK Limited companies are allowed to register .ltd.uk domains.

[1] http://www.nominet.org.uk/how-participate/policy-development...