The complexities of the situation are beautifully exemplified by the marje/macgrath exchange on the "Queen of England" situation. Yes, Elizabeth is the Queen of England. Yes, it can be sloppy and offensive and misleading to refer to her as "Queen of England". Hpw to reconcile these seemingly contradictory statements is one of the joys of the British/English (lack of)constitution.
   And another thing, McGrath. You refer to Wales as a country earlier. All the best pedants will quickly point out that Wales isnt a country. It's a principalty.(Don't ask me what the difference is). And what is the Isle of Man? Or Jersey? Anybody gort any bright ideas?
    And to get back to Indians and Asians...I have to fill out a lot of ethnic monitoring forms from time to time. The ctirria vary from form to form, but it is certainly true that in some systems of classification that you have to conform to, Indians, bangladeshis and Pakistanis are indeed Asians, but Chinese arent, even thought hey live in Asia. And quite what Kurds are, with whom I have a lot of dealings, I dont know. I put them down as "other".
   Interestingly, English, Welsh, and Scottish(not to mention German and French) are "white" on a form I saw recently, but Irish are "Irish". What a job,eh, sitting on your arse on some equality committee or other and making up this drivel.