[Stay_frostJebel]

> “Independence is a strong part of the character of the people of the island. We’re not part of the UK, or the British Isles – we’re Manx,” said Phil Gawne, a former politician on the island...

Hmm.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Isles

> The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic off the north-western coast of continental Europe that consist of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Hebrides and over six thousand smaller isles.

Wikipedia disagrees.

Over the years, I've harbored a growing suspicion that the political Venn diagram surrounding the UK and associated entities has reached the point of such complexity that even the natives can't follow it.

(Not that I think that Americans know the US's territorial classification system either, but...)

[mxfh]

This terminology is the official UK POV and generally accepted elsewhere. It's not surprising that any self governed or separitist faction is challenging this.

See the last paragraph of the introduction of said Wikipedia article.

See also:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Isles_naming_dispute#W...

[wjoe]

Yeah, that person is just wrong. Interesting that they identify that way though. I have friends in Jersey, which holds the same status as the Isle of Mann, and they're very insistent on not being part of the UK, but that they are British (as well as Jersey native). They like being independent but being strongly connected to the UK.

[p0llard]

The term "British Isles" is purely a geographic one, and a controversial one at that; whether or not the the Isle of Man is part of the British Isles (it blatantly is, but I think the point being made related to the naming controversy) is unrelated to the "complexity" of the UK political entities.

[conjectures]

Let me translate that for you:

“Independence is a strong part of the character of the people of the island. We’re whatever it takes to remain a tax haven.”