I can be brief or strictly accurate: Which do you prefer...? - Edit 2
Before modification by Joel at 24/11/2012 01:36:21 PM
Ireland is not an island "part of which Britain aggressively occupied centuries ago" - it's an island "THE ENTIRETY OF WHICH was under English rule for most of the last millennium and A PART OF WHICH is still part of the United Kingdom".
For nearly a century now, MOST of Ireland has not been aggressively or otherwise occupied by the UK. Inclusion in a definition of the CURRENT UK would thus be grossly incorrect. I am (quite) aware of history, thanks, but for once wished to avoid getting bogged down in history no longer relevant, however fascinating. Of course, all Ireland remains technically British because still a British isle; that is a matter of geography, not politics (a distinction I realize some have difficulty grasping. )