Well I have always called myself an Engineer and im a technician. My insurance company calls me an aircraft engineer too.Im not airborne but ground but nobody knows the difference except us. I have learned Maths Engineering Science , Physics , Chemistry, Design etc you name it and that is part of technician training. Even the aircrew ask for the engineers :/
So dunno where this debate got off track , does it really matter anyway
It is quite possible that technicians are trained to a level in the RAF where they approach "engineer" levels of skill & experience. This is quite possible in some if not all areas of engineering and this may blur the definitions. For me it really hinges on whether, given your training, you feel able to tackle the list of activities confidently in my first list above. In this respect, the originator of this somewhat tangential debate who sort of said "I know how to use a spanner so I'm an engineer" may actually have been selling his own skills a bit short.
Does it matter? Some think so, certainly other countries (such as France) think it does where an engineer has the same social standing (and pay) as a doctor. It seems to matter less to people (including many engineers) in the UK - where public perception means the UKs best known "engineer" is not Brunel but "Kevin from Coronation Street" (clearly a mechanic/technician, not an engineer).
Another way to look at is to ask - do you think Kwikfit fitters should call themselves engineers?