Let Y Ddraig Goch roar

Gwern Gwynfil

It is a joy to be Welsh.

When we see Y Ddraig Goch flying, hanging on an M4 bridge or a lamp post, or even graffitied on other street furniture, our heart soars. Our flag transcends the motives and motivation of some of those who have been so keen to raise it up of late.

We know deep down that we have the best flag in the world, we know for sure that we have the best anthem in the world. We are small but mighty. We are Cymru.

Pity those less fortunate in their Flags

I feel for my English friends and neighbours who are so conflicted by their flags.

Sporadic attempts are made to reclaim these flags – I enjoyed seeing a St George Cross emblazoned with the message ‘Refugees Welcome’. Such attempts are admirable and I wish them every success. Unfortunately, until England embraces its own nationhood and identity, allowing the mainstream, the centre, the progressive, majority to take ownership of what it is to be English, it seems its flags are too easily hijacked by a noisy, frequently bigoted, often xenophobic, almost always ill-informed, minority.

Bad History

The St George Cross has been tarred by its historic association with the hard right, with thuggery, and with hooliganism. For the non-white English population, especially those with memories of the 80s and 90s, it is a symbol that can inspire a visceral reaction of fear and concern.

Meanwhile, the Union flag is forever both the ‘Butcher’s Apron’ of the Empire, with all the atrocities committed in its shadow, as well as the flag of redemption from the Second World War. This sucks for the English, and for England, a nation struggling to redefine itself in a brave new world where they are not a global superpower, and there is no Imperial exceptionalism – it’s hard to be in the middle of the pack after leading comfortably for over a century.

It’s hard to be stuck with flags loaded with negativity – especially when one of your immediate neighbours has a super cool world leading flag with a dragon on it, and the other has one instantly associated with kilts, bagpipes, whisky and the quirky good vibes these entail.

Heads in the Sand

Rather than face up to the seismic shifts of the latter half of the 20th century and the first quarter century of the new millennium, England and Britain have avoided them. Our collective leaders, political thinkers, and we, the people, have fudged and fannied around trying to find ways to pretend that the ghost of a Great British Empire lives on, an unifying force that keeps us together, furnishes us with wealth, and lets us exercise influence across the globe.

This is obviously utter bollocks and it is a folly to allow that self-deception to destroy the potential that Britain has, collectively and as separate nations, to fulfill our potential as places to live, work, enjoy, and in which we can take justifiable pride.

Live in the Moment

Strip away the history, focus on today, ask yourself if any of us, Welsh, Scottish, English, can truly be proud of our nations?

It is not all bleak and broken – there are things of which we can be proud. England is demonstrating the progress made in gender equality with its success on the field in football and rugby – this is a genuine reflection of a positive direction of travel in many other areas of life. No one would deny that there is a long way to go but if we compare today to 50 years ago young women have a wide array of options and opportunities which simply did not exist for their mothers and grandmothers. Scotland has reduced child poverty using simple, targeted, and effective measures to combat deprivation. Wales is a Nation of Sanctuary and is the first nation in the world to have a Well-Being of Future Generations Act.

But these are scattered pinpricks of light against a pretty bleak backdrop.

All of us have creaking public services, infrastructure is moldering (some of it still relying on the efforts of our Victorian forbears), the economy has been sold off piecemeal to global investors happy to farm the UK for ‘rents’. The prevailing zeitgeist seems to be ‘well, it’s all a bit shit, what’s the point of making an effort’. Not the greatest of mottos and no way to underpin a culture of improvement, delivery and performance.

Radical Change

 Britain needs a revolution. It needn’t be violent or destructive – these islands have a long tradition of revolution without a great deal of violence or upheaval, it’s why we still have a monarch and can claim the ‘mother of all parliaments’.

It is time to plan and work towards a new British Union of separate nations. This will be good for Wales and Scotland but it will be brilliant for England – finally a route to a place where the English can embrace themselves and their national symbols, where they can be proud of who they are, from whence they can progress with a new understanding of their place in the world and the role they can play.

Nature Abhors a Vacuum

Serious politicians need to grasp this nettle, they must discuss this future sensibly and with gravity, today.

By avoiding the issue we allow the noisy right, the populist Punch, to dictate the topics of discussion in the utter vacuum of policy and purpose allowed to form by the cowardice and aimlessness of today’s political leaders.