John,
There tends to be confusion even by the indigenous population on this.
Political:Great Britain (Scotland, England, Wales) – United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland(Ulster). Geographical: the British
Isles, which includes the foregoing and the Republic of Ireland. Since
most of the population of all these countries speaks English, foreigners
tend to refer to them all as English, which understandably can annoy
people from Scotland, Wales and Ulster. As an Englishman iving in Belgium,
I identify myself as British most of the time.
Pete Jones, flying on AutoPilot from Brussels, Belgium