UK? No

@thatbags

'British' is a term used to refer to nationality. The Northern Irish are British.

Ireland (Eire) is part of the British Isles, but its citizens aren't British.

One little 'Englander' does not a whole nation make

I disagree Nonnie, it isn't an English person saying they are English that can cause the problem, it is English people who cannot accept they are an equal part of the U.K. Can't recall the poster sorry but she said England should have more prominence because it has a bigger population , I disagree

I belonged to a forum for years when AOL had their boards. One St. David's Day there was a thread where English members had posted nice messages to me, some were in Welsh , I only replied thank you in Welsh and how kind in English . A poster was furious, told me it was an English speaking only forum and she reported me , this resulted in a battle with AOL and I reported AOL , they were told as Welsh was an official language of the U.K I had a legal right to use it and it was for them to have an interpreter to check if I said anything against forum rules . I explained to AOL I didn't want to post in Welsh , it would be pointless and stupid, I did want the right to say the very occasional word and would add an English translation, problem over, but all that distress caused by one little englander

I just wish I could call myself 'English' without fear of being called an 'ist'.

Scottish people can do that, and so can Welsh and Irish, but in calling oneself 'English' it seems to be regarded as confrontational.

If the English team were on red alert and the rest of the U.K on amber alert I think the English team on red alert and the rest of the U.K teams on Amber is fair, but it wasn't so,

The six and ten BBC news yesterday spoke of the English and Welsh teams , this is all I expect . My knowledge of football is nil , I didn't know North and South of Ireland played as one team , if NI had their own team I think the three should be named . My objection is the countries being classed as the other home teams . If the four countries were playing I would expect - the four home countries. That everyone - with the exception of three on this thread - dismiss me as nit picking doesn't bother me , I think it is they who are the nit pickers leaping on my post in such an unpleasant manner

But if the threat to the England team was say a red alert and for the Welsh was only an amber would it still be advisable to mention all the teams by name?

I disagree Jamila, two separate things, concern for the safety of players has not a thing to do with the BBC dismissing countries as other home nations .

I was thinking about this earlier this morning (yes, I know go and 'get a life') and the conclusion I came to was that there must be sufficient intelligence of a risk of terrorism to warrant UK national football teams being given extra protection.
Now, that to me is frightening, yet the emphasis of the OP is on the BBC supposedly snubbing Wales and NI.
Taking your eye off the ball springs to mind. Let's hope none of the footballers do that and all goes well with no incidents.

But, yeah, what the hell.

You were talking about Northern Ireland though, grumpps. Anyway, never mind. I'm just being pedantic, in keeping with the OP. In my mind Ireland is British in the same way all of the British Isles are European, whether they are members of the European Union or not.

So is the term British as I was using it.

@thatbags

No, they're not. The British Isles is a geographic term.

Tell that to the Republic of Ireland!

grumppa, no, you didn't mention the British Isles but you said British wouldn't do because it would exclude Northern Ireland. I don't think it would exclude a country that is in the British Isles. Aren't all the islands and countries of the British Isles British by definition?

I now fancy an Arbroath smokie for my dinner rather than the sausages which are in the oven

daphnedil I try to avoid mention of it but it is difficult when DH and DS get together, (although I only know who qualified when I read this post!).
Although DH is very partial to whisky and marmalade and I love Arbroath smokies and good salmon

There doesn't need to be a BBC England, because England is the biggest, richest and most powerful country in the UK. Therefore, the BBC is dominated by England anyway. However, I think it's in its charter that it has to respect minorities, such as the smaller countries in the UK, which is why they sometimes have their own programmes.

As a child and teenager living on Merseyside, we used to receive our TV signal from a Welsh transmitter, so occasionally got Welsh language programmes and news. I thought they were fascinating, especially the recipe programmes for some reason.

@Jalima

I didn't even know there was a football championship this year :-), so I didn't even know who'd qualified.

The Scots make mighty fine whisky, Arbroath smokies and marmalade and produce wonderful salmon, which I find much more satisfying than football.

Maybe this is what you saw, Hollycat.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/25/population-surge-to-change-the-face-of-england-forever/

The population of the whole of England is predicted to rise by 4 million by 2024.

Only half of the predicted rise will be caused by immigration. The other major factor in the rise is the ageing population.

I'm not sure what this has to do with Wales.

Oh dear daphnedil what a good thing I deleted my remark about Scotland being rubbish at football.
They do have other qualities of course.
And having such a small population does limit their choice of players.
Although Wales has qualified with a much smaller population and NI with even less.

Yes, they are particularly interesting/rubbish when watching parliament on 131.

I haven't read all the thread properly[sorry, I dont have as much time as I used to], but I think Ab has a point.
The BBC is the BBC of the UK.

Fair enough grumppa, but the home countries would have been betterthan England and the others ,or named the countries

But if the term home countries was mentioned instead of England and the other home countries then Scotland might feel left out just because they were rubbish didn't qualify.

In fact, neither of the above is correct.
Who do they employ at the BBC these days - have you ever read the sub-titles?

I'm very English. I spent years researching my family history and I don't have any non-English ancestors going back at least three centuries (and further on some lines).

I always thought that the English were supposed to be well known for fairness and championing the underdog, which to me includes minorities of all sorts. Democracy (rule by the majority) needs to balanced with respect for those not in a majority and that's how the UK has somehow bumbled along.

It saddens me that a number of posts on this thread don't seem very English.

I never mentioned the British Isles, thatbags.