Ideas Above Our Station

Ralph Vaughan Williams's grandfather John came from Sir Gâr, the name gives a clue to his Welshness, but you wouldn't have known it from the programme last night; he typified Englishness, his music, especially 'The Lark Rises' was an English masterpiece, the gardens were English, the weather was English, there was even an English fleet, it would have been a step too far if they'd claimed an English god, but I'm sure they thought it. We can hold on to the word 'British', they don't need it when 'English' covers everything. To an English mind 'English' means 'British' (in Spielbergs' new film the English declare war) except where it is 'Ancient British' and that's us, still alive and kicking. Which brings me to something else: a country that doesn't exist in anyone's mind outside its own population whose only 'justification' to exist is having a seat on FIFA and the IRB has global solidarity groups assisting real countries with seats in the United Nations. Are we punching above our weight or do we have ideas above our station? When a packet or delegation arrives from Wales they must be rushing to their maps, seeing that they are coming from England and wondering how a people who can't stand on their own two feet consider themselves qualified to help the rest of the world. The trouble is with putting ourselves above others on an international pedestal it shows we have an independence of mind in a dream world far fetched from the realities that can only come to fruition when we wake up to eventually decide things for ourselves, not as isolated charity groups but as a nation with its own legislative parliament.