Sir, When I was a young fella, I learnt that the Romans came to the coast of Brittany and knew of two islands off them. These they called the Brittany islands. As one was larger it was called Great Britain, the other was known as Little Britain. Perhaps they would therefore be more correctly called The Celtic Islands.
So geographically, we are of the British Isles. The Romans said so. The people of our sister island who became known as The British, and who created a great empire thought they were great, not because of their being the larger island, but because they were somehow a marvellous race. Politically they offend our sensibilities by referring to us as part of the British Isles. Although it really means very little, perhaps they might stop using the expression when referring to Ireland. Yours, etc., Wilson Road, Mount Merrion, Co Dublin.