Sir - Mr Graham was perfectly right. It is both wrong and offensive for the British (or anyone else) to include this country the term the "British Isles" which properly refers to the islands associated with the United Kingdom of Great Britain - viz. "the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland" (1801-1922). The objectionable and incorrect usage has become commonplace from London, subsequently elsewhere, especially since 1969.
The suggestion (December 25th, 26th, 27th) that the Britannic Celts inhabited this island, thus justifying the current use of the term, is also incorrect. A small group of Prythonic Celts are thought to have had a colony in what is now Wexford, but were a distinct minority. The source of the dominant Goidelic people remains controversial, but was probably Spain.
Perhaps the definitive final word on the subject belongs to David Lloyd George, the then British Prime Minister. In a letter from 10 Downing Street to de Valera (dated August 13th, 1921), he wrote, inter alia: "The geographical propinquity of Ireland to the British Isles is a fundamental fact (Official Correspondence relating to the Peace Negotiations June-September, 1921. Dail Eireann, October 1921) Yours, etc..
Blackrock, Co. Dublin.