Dr Quelch,

I would respectfully suggest that you refrain from telling the Irish that they are Brits.

The very word, to many Irishmen, has supplanted f**k, as the ultimate four letter epithet, and I'm sure that you would not wish to be responsible for bringing the current, uneasy peace to a very noisy end.

To make that assertion in any Irish pub would be an effective, but probably messy, way of committing suicide.

DT