Ripsaw Posted August 15, 2006 Share Posted August 15, 2006 Please relieve my embarassment... Are the Falkland Islands classed as part of the British Isles? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mission Posted August 15, 2006 Share Posted August 15, 2006 Falkland Islands History. The pertinent bit:- The Falkland Islands are a United Kingdom Overseas Territory, open to any British Citizen and are an associated territory of the European Union. No mention of it being a part of the British Isles that I could see on the site. I also did the same for Guernsey and came up with no obvious references to the question, so I posted it up on the whyguernsey forum for an answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mission Posted August 15, 2006 Share Posted August 15, 2006 Well, so far, the general opinion is that yes, the CI are a part of the British Isles but, no actual concrete proof - just the usual Wiki link and other links. I'm hoping the one of their politicians that posts on there can give a definitive answer to the question though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
La_Dolce_Vita Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 Is the Island technically a country though? Does the Island's government have to be completely sovereign or not? If so the Island has only really been a country since the 50s when it could be called independent. Maybe it is all semantical stuff. The Wilkipedia site states that as British Isles could be controversial given the modern-day meaning of the term a suggested term could be 'The Islands of the North Atlantic'. How ridiculous is that, I can appreciate how term British is quite out-dated and distasteful to many but to alter something that is quite controversial to some strange new term is just silly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Old Git Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 Is the Island technically a country though? Does the Island's government have to be completely sovereign or not? The British Isles is purely a geographic term. Forget about country boundaries and governments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripsaw Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 Wales isn't a country, it is a principality (WTF?) yet it has a 'National' football team. It doesn't have a government it has an Assembly. It's a Government plot to keep us all in a state of confusion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bastard Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 Check out this page for some perspectives on the British Isles etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollag Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 Wales isn't a country, it is a principality (WTF?) yet it has a 'National' football team. It doesn't have a government it has an Assembly. It's a Government plot to keep us all in a state of confusion. Dont wish to pee on your parade but are "national teams" not just money making business entities that have no true national link, ie govt or otherwise? Often the National managers are foreign. We could organise a British Islands team amongst us and it would have the same validity as the England team, cept no one would play with us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripsaw Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 No parade here to pee on. Re sports, The isle of Man is a town, county or country depending on the sport and the event. Classification for sport is as (if not more) screwed up than it is for political purposes. It's no wonder that 'others' are confused about our position in the world, we don't even know who or what we are on our own door steps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollag Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 cant fault you there, i find that "nationalism" tends to have an agenda either a Govt pushing thru prohibitive legislation, newspapers selling copy or as in football as a means to make profit, it all seems manipulative to me:( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripsaw Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 Andy Murry and Tim Henman face a simialr syndrome. They are British when winning, but Scottish and English when losing. The Island is a forward thinking UK/British Crown Dependency when written about in favourable terms, but an backward Independant Tax Evasion Centre when the reporting is less complimentary. It makes perfect sense for the Island to align itself to Lancashire, the North West, England, UK Britain or the EU when it comes to certain measures that affect a small population, although I hate the 'they do it so we do it' mindset. Maybe the 'Freedom to Flourish' branding will address the missing part which is "We are the Isle of Man, an entity in our own right irrespective of other associations". Then again maybe it will tell the world that we are adept at sucking up to them to gain their cynical approval. Back to the topic of the thread, the Isle of Man is now included on updated lists of countries of the world. The Government were dancing a jig for their achievement, I wondered what took them so bloody long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ean Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 Wales isn't a country, it is a principality (WTF?) Welsh people love it when you point this out to them, FACT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manxchatterbox Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 do they teach geography at school anymore? a few months ago was walking along the prom with a local 19 year old...it was so clear you could see Cumbria... I said "oh look you can see land today"..."Oh is that France" was the reply!!! ffs.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lonan3 Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 Recent reading - books by well-respected historians - have increasingly referred to the 'Atlantic Islands' or 'Atlantic Isles' to define them as a (presently) separate entity to Europe. It seems that the term 'British Isles' will eventually find itself on the scrapheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
La_Dolce_Vita Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 It's not a good term though. That could be confused with Iceland, the Faeores or even the Azores. Not that I think the preservation of the term is that important in itself but the 'Atlantic Isles' doesn't sound like such a good term. I would say I am confused about the Island's status, though I don't know whether it actually matters or not, that is the status of the Isle of Man. The Island has only been technically independent since the 50s so it is no wonder that people have little idea where it and that it is a separate entity from England. I find it weird how 100 years when the Island was advertised as a holiday resort there was no hyping up of the culture and wonderful uniqueness of the place etc., this when the Island could have said to have had a slightly less Anglicised culture than nowadays. This seems even more odd when the Manx considered themselves themselves definitely British and thought of England, the Empire and the Island and much the same thing. Nowadays the Manx seem even more nationalistic at a time when the Island's culture is more Anglicised than it has ever been. Reading the 'Freedom to Flourish' story you have be cynical, sounds nothing more and can be nothing more than an advertising campaign for the finance sector. This from the Freedom to Flourish page: "Our independence has made us pragmatic. We have used our resourcefulness and resilience to retain control of our destiny, yet deep down our ingrained realism means that we know that we can never stay still but must always look for ways of making things better." I would substitute 'things better' for money. This seems to me to something only done solely for the benefit of the businesses and not for any major concern for the culture, heritage or people. These just seem to be referred to as marketing tools to use in advertising. Which I suppose is the whole point of it but I don't see the necessity of having to win over the people for some business marketing scheme. The people on the Island know how to advertise the Island anyway, whether they like living their or not, are proud to be Manx or not. I really don't like the way it is composed of business double-speak and spin. Am I being too cynical here? I doubt it but... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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