`, 16 May 2009 (UTC) :::: That is precisely the point,  the ``British Isles`` is an idea. Moreover, it is an idea foisted upon Irish people by British people of a peculiarly separatist (from Europe) bent, a throwback to the days of empire when they got away with that sort of thing. The distribution of power in Europe has changed dramatically - nay, fundamentally - since those days, and this term now sticks out like a sore thumb, a relic of a former European power in its heyday.   16:33`