Confidence

Caradog fought the the Romans in vain, Buddug fought back in vain, Arthur fought to repel the Saxons with temporary success, Cadwallon fought to hold the Crown of Britain in vain, Owain Glyndwr fought to realize his dream of a Crown, a Parliament in Machynlleth, 2 universities, a frontier at the Severn & Mersey and independence, in vain; hooray, the Tudors succesfully gave us a Crown, a Parliament in London, a university college, a frontier to Hadrian's Wall, peace and even the beginning of an empire, so what went wrong? Dependence, after the initial celebrations we became totally dependent on an unsympathetic centralized State that threatened to cost us our identity, 'British' began to alter in connotation, after 1707 it changed its meaning completely when the Scots allied themselves formerly with the English to create a new Great Britain. We were saved when sports associations came about during the 19th century and national teams were formed, the Scots wanted to play against 'The Auld Enemy', although not old in our terms, so why shouldn't we pick a Welsh National team, no matter that there was no Welsh nation because we had been completely subsumed into England by Henry VIII with his the Laws in Wales Act of 1535 to 1542. It was a salve to the consciences of those who didn't lift a finger and some who were downright antipathetic to their  Country to openly and rabidly declare their Welshness for 80 or 90 minutes 4 or 5 times a year, and to fly the flag at world championships but not yet the Olympic Games, not in my lifetime anyway. Proud to be Welsh, for 80 minutes! Although confidence in the Country is rising, we can see that with the introduction of primary law making powers for the first time in many centuries. Taliesin said that the Britons will lose their land except Wild Wales, and the Old Man of Pencader stated that the Welsh Language will always answer for our little "cilcyn o ddaear men cilfach gefn", our little corner of the world. 500 years of direct rule from London is not thrown off overnight, it needs patience, but we are moving in the right direction. To wean the Tudorite Kinnocks and George Thomas's of this world from believing in Henry's ideas of the Welsh being better off ruled by outsiders is a huge job, and something has to be done to alleviate their fear of Cymraeg/The Welsh Language. Fe Godwn ni eto.