For my part, I think the English have become confused about the difference between Britain and England, and indeed, about the meaning of ‘English’. For so long, the terms England and Britain have been interchangeable in the English mind and media. We still, comically, see people on television saying one when they mean the other. I would love to see them resolve this dilemma. It would be good for all of us. However, I think the cultural diversity of England might stand in the way. A Yorkshire man is as different and alienated from an Essex boy as he is from a Jock or a Dai.

No doubt amongst certain sections there will be an complaint about having been forced to do so because of the ungrateful Scots and Welsh. England will be portrayed as having selflessly given up her identity for the sake of the Union for all these years only for her sacrifice to have been constantly critised . Once Scots and Welsh MPs had a say in England only affairs ( hundreds of years of the the reverse being the natural state) well enough was enough.

I’m sure you are sincere in what you say (though I’m also sure there are some nationalists who, for want of a better phrase, hate the English). But your project depends not just on the Welsh feeling different from the English, but also vice versa. You believe in a Welsh distinctiveness, rooted in culture, history, language – and possibly outlook and sentiment, too – such that it demands and deserves separate political institutions. I appreciate that it is inclusive in the sense that it is not rooted in ethnicity, but self-identification. But it is a philosophy that places a lot of emphasis on exclusivity. I don’t see how it could be otherwise

England is a great country, full of great figures, art, music, literature, inventions. Why can’t they stand up and celebrate that? The Welsh and Scots are

I wasn’t passing comment on the origins or veracity of the Celts or Celtic self-identification. I was using the same phrase as the person I was quoting to point out that the sense of alienation he expressed was exactly what a number of Welsh and Scottish nationalists intended him to feel.

The Office of National Statistics was measuring self identification in terms of national identity. I incorrectly wrote of ‘ethnic’ identity when I meant ‘national’ identity, understanding that the two could simultaneously mean the same thing and opposite depending on context. My apologies for any misstatement on my part regarding the clear intent of the ONS. From what I can discern, the ONS was not measuring any sense of “belonging”, as you state the Dept of Justice survey was measuring.

Reviewing the ONS article, it is clear that place of birth is more important in determining national self identification then an individual’s ethnic extraction. Thus, one could say that someone like Joe Calzaghe might feel more Welsh because he was born in Wales, whatever his ethnic heritage. I do not mean to suggest that the Italian Dragon self-identifies one way or another on the issue. The ONS differentiated between those that felt Welsh and Other (7%, with the “Other” most often attributed as “British”) and those that felt of Welsh nationality (60% of all Wales residents, 87% of Wales-born residents).

This sense of Civic Nationalism is what John Dixon had written about in his introduction to WalesHome. This sense of civic nationalism is firmly rooted in Plaid, and hearkens back to influential author Dr DJ Davies and Gwnfor Evans.

Toque: “do you see it as your job to deprive those Welsh people who do feel British of that dual identity?”

Not at all, I believe it is perfectly reasonable and natural for some people to be both Welsh and British, and I do not wish to place a wedge between those two identities. The two identities are not mutually exclusive in any sense. As MH makes note, one could define “British” as simply a resident on the isle of Britain sharing an affinity with the other nations of the island. While Hendre is also quite right to note the original Britons were in fact Welsh.

Adam Higgitt: “[This], of course, is “the plan” of a number of the self-styled Celts.”

Celts were themselves multi-ethnic peoples from Iberia to the British and Irish Isles to Germany and further abroad, and all sharing a linguistic family and cultural tradition. Celt is shorthand for describing linguistic and cultural patters which transcend ethnicity. Today’s Celts are, like they always have been, 1) those that speak a Celtic language, 2) self-identify with a sense of “Celtic culture”. If one considers DNA, then the peoples of Wales and Ireland are more closely related to the Basques, and so too but to a lesser degree are the residents in England, at least according to Stephen Oppenheime in Origins of the British (pgs 375-378). And this is not surprising, as there has long been known of a thriving trade route from Galicia to Brittany, Cornwall, Wales, and Ireland.

Toque: “political point, which is what David was doing when he wrote “British = English”.

The only political point inherit with my statement is that British “pop” culture is inherently Anglo-Centric. This, as CapM made note above, was a simply a rebranding of “English”, and occurred after the Acts of Union between England and Scotland. Today, British “pop” culture predominates because it caters to the largest populated nation in Britain. Again, there is nothing insidious about this, and as I stated above I am an Anglophile, a lover of England and things English.

However, I realise that this Anglo-centricity, this Britishness, has resulted in siphoning off Welsh cultural endeavors, most evident in the decline of the Welsh language but also in other aspects of Welsh culture too. Welsh culture, which should be noted, successfully withstood pressures of “British conformity” well until the advent of broadcasting. As Dr Davies wrote, prior to the late 19th century the Welsh were able to fully incorporate newcomers into Welsh society, and Welsh remained the majority language for most of Wales well until the mid 19th century. There were so many Welsh publications in the late 1800s, (with a significant amount published in America!) as to make you spellbound in wonderment.

A three pronged perfect storm changed this. First was the “Welsh Not” policy from the 1840s onward which forbade the speaking of Welsh in classrooms across Wales, clearly with English as the only approved medium for instruction. Generations of Welsh learned to read and write their own language only through chapel. Second, the huge influx of immigrants into South Welsh coalfields, so many within such as short time that assimilation would prove challenging even in the best of times. But why should these new residents learn the language of their neighbors when the Welsh language wasn’t even taught in school or approved in official government business? Lastly, broadcasting. Initially, radio broadcasts from England were the only broadcasts to be heard until stations were established in Cardiff and other locations, and these stations offered some broadcasting in Welsh. However, according to Professor John Davies, residents in England complained about hearing Welsh on the radio and successfully petitioned to have all Welsh language broadcasts stopped. For a good while, the only broadcast heard in Welsh was a station in Ireland, which offered a show or two in Welsh.

Plaid successfully campaigned for Welsh language radio broadcasts in the 1930s, but by the 1950s the BBC continued its policy of ignoring the Welsh language. And in the face of such influential centralized programming from London, Anglo-centric “Britishness” eroded the use of the Welsh language at home and eventually in the chapel too.

While I personally hold no grudges towards British “pop” culture, or any sense of “British” identity, I know that the origin of such identity is firmly Anglo-Centric and I simply wish a more even playing field for the residents of Wales.

I don’t write in “White English” I just write “English”.

I hold a UK passport so that’s the extent of my Britishness determined. For any identity question I am English.