It's nice people are seeing how funny the Welsh are,” says Russell T. Davies.
“I do think we have a history of being miserable and small and damp on
screen. Don't you?”
Not any more. Something has happened to the Welsh. Suddenly, and cheerfully,
the principality's sons and daughters are thriving. Two of the UK's
favourite TV shows - Davies's babies Doctor Who and Torchwood - are filmed
on the streets of Cardiff. A third, Gavin & Stacey, is all about
Glamorgan, with Welsh stars, Welsh jokes and a half-Welsh writing team. It
won two Baftas on Sunday. And this, after Joe Calzaghe boxed his way through
Bernard Hopkins in Las Vegas, after Tom Jones sang Land of Our Fathers from
between the ropes.
Much has been written about the Welsh renaissance within Wales - the
Millennium Stadium, the Assembly, the film crews on every street corner. And
suddenly, it is not just the Welsh who are excited about Wales. It is
everybody.
Duffy, the belting Welsh singer (of Mercy and Rockferry), is poised for
international superstardom. Hollywood is heaving with Welsh stars, and not
just the old warhorses such as Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones, but
a new breed, including Rhys Ifans, Ioan Gruffudd and Michael Sheen. June
sees the release of The Edge of Love, a film based on the life of Dylan
Thomas (Welsh) starring Matthew Rhys (Welsh), Sienna Miller (has a Welsh
boyfriend) and Keira Knightley (not, admittedly, Welsh).
And last month saw the Welsh rugby team winning the Grand Slam for the second
time since 2005 and next month Cardiff play in the FA Cup Final for the
first time since 1927. Oh, and Lembit Öpik represents a Welsh seat at
Westminster. So it's all go.
It was not ever thus. When Anne Robinson famously damned the Welsh in 2002
(“Irritating and annoying,” she told Paul Merton. “What are they for? They
are always so pleased with themselves”) the outrage was ludicrous, yet real.
MPs fumed in Parliament. The police investigated her under the Race
Relations Act and the uproar lasted for weeks. It seemed histrionic then
and, in retrospect, it seems absurd.
These days, if somebody makes similar comments, one suspects that the Welsh
would either ignore them, or write them into a comedy show. “When you become
comfortable,” says Russell T. Davies, “when you start to take the piss, that
is when you are actually advancing.”
Davies is from Swansea. He reminds me that Wales is a very small country. “We
do lag behind Scotland and Ireland in terms of representation on telly,” he
says. “And the only way to conquer that problem is through familiarity. If
you see a Scottish or an Irish character in a mainstream drama, they don't
stand out. Welsh characters still do. There are so few. Take Gavin &
Stacey now. Ruth Jones's voice as Nessa. Brilliant. If you live in Wales,
that's a very familiar voice. But I'd never heard it on telly before.”
Gavin & Stacey, if you've been living in a cave, is BBC Three's new
runaway Welsh success. As of yesterday, the BBC were making noises about
moving it to BBC One. It is written by James Corden (of The History Boys)
and Ruth Jones (Daffyd's sidekick from that Little Britain sketch about the
only gay in the village) and it is about, pretty much, a love affair between
a guy from Essex (played by Matthew Horne) and a girl from Barry (Joanna
Page, from Mumbles, the old stomping ground of Catherine Zeta-Jones). Both
are blown off screen by the gloriously dirty chemistry between Corden and
Jones, but the real star of the show is rural Wales itself, with village
surrealism, growling dank, eroticism and characters who speak with the kind
of tumbling blunt eloquence that just wouldn't work if their accents were
from anywhere else. Rob Brydon, the comedian, plays Stacey's nervous,
troubled uncle Bryn. “What it's done is create a version of Wales that's
palatable to everyone, something which I don't think anyone's managed
before,” he has said. “Along with that, Doctor Who, Torchwood and winning
the Grand Slam, I don't think there's ever been a better time to be Welsh
since the mid-1970s.”
Peter Gill, the veteran Welsh playwright whose Small Change (set in 1950s
Cardiff) is about to appear at the Donmar in London, tells me that Wales has
“always had a gift for a certain kind of country & western
vulgarity.” The greatest Welsh film never made, he adds, was one starring
the young Shirley Bassey and the young Tom Jones. Once, the Welsh might have
been embarrassed about their Elvis-loving, teddy-boy edge. Now, maybe, they
are revelling in it. A recent episode of Gavin & Stacey saw the whole
cast at a barn dance.
It is thanks to Davies, of course, that the whole Welsh televisual renaissance
began. In Cardiff, there is talk of a statue. His Doctor Who went there with
BBC Wales, as a result of a Beeb directive that more work had to happen
outside London. It was such a success that he soon followed it up with
Torchwood - a spin-off as strongly wedded to the city as EastEnders is to
East London. “The Doctor travels all over the place,” he explains. “So we
could only have one Cardiff story every two or three years. Otherwise it
would have looked daft.”
Having previously lived in Manchester (where he made Queer as Folk) Davies
says that he learnt from Coronation Street how passionate locals could
become about a TV show if they considered it their own. And, true enough,
Cardiff swiftly went wild for the man from Gallifrey. When required, local
authorities seem prepared to virtually shut the city down for filming. In
return, Davies has given them busloads of tourists and a budding TV
industry, complete with a mammoth training scheme. “When I grew up in
Swansea, working in telly simply meant moving to London,” he says. “Now you
know for a fact that, if you are 12 in Swansea, you can just go down the
motorway.”
Then there is music. The Welsh have been singing for ever (“Have you been to
Wales?” Blackadder asked Baldrick, circa 1800, “. . . gangs of tough sinewy
men, roaming the valleys terrorising people with their close-harmony singing
. . .”) but in the generations since Jones and Bassey, the crooning legends
seem to have been piling up on top of each other. I could list them, coming
up through the Manic Street Preachers and Stereophonics, right up to the
likes of Charlotte Church and Katherine Jenkins, but you might as well do
what I did, and just take a look at the Welsh Singers category on Wikipedia.
It's enormous.
Leading the pack, suddenly, is the aforementioned Duffy, a 23-year-old blonde
soul singer from Nefyn, a predominantly Welsh-speaking spit on the Llyn
Peninsula in the northwest. Her debut album Rockferry came out in March.
Duffy sings like a creature from another age - nasal in a good way, over a
noise like the Wall of Sound. In the hype that now surrounds her, perhaps,
we can get a snapshot of what Wales suddenly means to us all. You might
think that Duffy has emerged from a time capsule, or that Nefyn, rather than
being a slightly eye-watering eight-hour trainride from London, was on the
other side of the world. From the reviews to the album cover, Duffy is
unspoilt, uncorrupted, vintage, retro, old-school, all that.
There is a lot of this sort of thing going on with Wales. To see Joanna Page
arrive at tattered, grey Barry Station in Gavin & Stacey is to sigh with
nostalgia, even if you are from nowhere near. Indeed, it might be worth
noting that much of the British National Party's lovely hierarchy -
including Nick Griffin, the leader, and John Walker, the treasurer - live in
various parts of the principality. Could it just be that much of Wales
reminds many of us of how the rest of Britain used to be, in simpler,
quieter, smaller times?
They won't like that idea in Wales. In March, the Welsh Academy published its
first Encyclopaedia of Wales, seeking to produce the exhaustive reference
for all things Welsh (reviewers recalled the first entry on Wales in the
index of the Encyclopaedia Britannica - “For Wales, See England”) as a
testament to an emerging sense of nationhood that is all about history and
geography and culture, and suddenly not just about buggering up everybody
else's view at rock concerts with flags. The devolved Welsh Assembly may be
a poor man's answer to the Scottish Parliament, but as a New Labour project,
it may have turned out more according to plan. In Scotland, devolution has
bred separatism. Wales seems more British than ever.
As to whether the boom will continue, well that's one for the Welsh. Russell
T. Davies suggests that his countrymen have long suffered from an
inferiority complex - not just in relation to England, but in relation to
more shouty minorities from Scotland and Ireland, too. Perhaps the
principality has benefited from their increasing drift away. Peter Gill,
however, worries that, although there are Welsh singers, TV stars and
sportsmen aplenty, there are fewer writers, poets and composers to match.
Even at its most worthy, Cardiff's new Millennium Centre appears to see its
role as attracting international talent into Wales, rather than showcasing
Welsh talent to the world.
In politics, also, the Welsh continue to punch well below their weight.
Whereas the Cabinet is dominated by Scots, the Wikipedia category on Welsh
politicians has little of note to say for itself since Neil Kinnock. Indeed,
jokes aside, the most tireless champion of all things Welsh in Westminster
probably continues to be Lembit Öpik, who has a Welsh seat and was the head
of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, but is of Estonian descent and was born in
Northern Ireland. “What Wales has to do now is consolidate,” he says. “The
worst we can do is languish in our success. The best is bank on it and
believe in it.”
Öpik also has little time for any comparisons between the Welsh and other
British minorities. “With more than a dozen success stories all at once, you
can't cry fluke any more,” he says. “And with the greatest of respect to
Scotland, it's not exactly a centre of TV production and it has not had many
recent rugby triumphs.”
Dangerous stuff, but a fair point. With sporting successes, pop triumphs and
television saturation, it is hard to draw too many parallels between the
Welsh and the Scots. And yet, doesn't the Welsh situation ring a bell,
particularly as the United Kingdom at large succumbs to their speech
patterns? Ah, yes. That's it. Maybe they are the new Australians.
Apart from the people try ...
The Brecon Beacons (and the countryside in general)
Laverbread: Delicious with bacon
The Big Pit: Best interactive museum in the UK
Portmeirion: Has to be seen to be believed
The language: Alive and kicking
I'm keen to develop an appreciation that Wales is not just Cardiff, Swansea and the valleys - don't forget the rich cultures of central and North Wales. I'm working on developing my book set in Rhyl (The Reso Ambrose Conway) into a film and I'm sure it would be easier if Cardiff based!
Ambrose Conway, Rhyl, Wales
Sorry, don't agree. It rained so much in Wales - really depressing place to be. After living there for four years was glad to be out. So much more going on elsewhere.
Cardiff is a drunken violent mess on a Saturday night when all the people from the valleys venture out. The welsh chavs are the worst in the UK as well.
Definitely not 'cool'!
Amy, Southampton, UK
What do you mean "suddenly". It always has been, otherwise England wouldn't want to control it!
A proud Anglo-Welshwoman
Liz, London,
" Wales is not, and never will be, cool"
Says the man from Sevenoaks.
Rodney Reason, London,
Cool to be Welsh?!!!...as if....
Joe, London, London
Is it..? That's news to me. I didn't know it was...
Does that mean people will now talk to you in pubs in Snowdonia?
Garry, London,
Didn't the obsession with all things Welsh begin in 2003 when The Bill introduced that lovely, gay, Welsh Sergeant, Craig Gilmore to the nation, brilliantly portrayed by Hywel Simons????
Sue Wadsworth, Halifax,
I've seen the remark about Welsh having 'fewer writer or composers' several times over the years. What's often overlooked is the fact that in Wales much of the output is actually written in Welsh, not English - a reflection of how alive and in 'day to day' use the language actually is.
The Jones, Chepstow, Mons
I've just spent 10 days in Pembroke Dock.
Never again!
It was my 3 visit to Wales, I should have known better.
Is it a country? Surely a principality!
Hence it only has an assembly and no place on the Union Flag.
Vince, Durham, Durham
I think Sevenoaks is crackin'.
Neil, Swansea, Wales
Great article, but a disappointing reliance on cliches. Had Hugo done a little more research, he might find the 'valleys' are one particular area of the country, not Wales as a whole. And it made me laugh to read that Barry Island is "rural Wales itself, with village surrealism". Log flume anyone?
Deborah, Cardiff,
At last! At last! Someone from outside our glorious country has something positive to say about us. I do take Peter Gill to task, though, by suggesting that we lack writers, poets and composers of note. Not so, in my opinion . We have many in both English and Welsh.
Gillian, Sarn Mellteyrn., Cymru
Born and bred in Cardiff and now living in France. I will never forget where I come from and have always been proud to be Welsh.
About time Wales is being recognised for what it is and more over the warm, generous, hard working people in it.
I will never cease to fly the Welsh flag...............
Ceri, Prayssac, France
"Wales is not, and will not ever be, cool." - you mean like Sevenoaks is ?
That's OK butt .. you stay over there and we'll just carry on partying and enjoying being different .
We do like the English - but not too keen on the ones around London - see !
Valleys Commandos !
David Moorcraft, Cardiff, er .. Wales
Wales has always been cool.It has something to do with all that rain and bad weather that comes in off the Irish sea.
richard, worcester, u.k.
Wales and Scotland are not a countries they are provinces within the UK. Most of the world does not recognise Wales as a country. Wales does not have a place on the UN. It is part of the UK to be a diffent country means having your own currency, prime minister and are able to support yourself why is it refered to as a country? I come from another country and settled in the UK and never ever heard of it refered to as a country until I moved here. Its like saying Texas is a country?
Tim Anderson, Woking, UK
Wales is definately NOT cool, i grew up there, parents still live there, quite simply awful place. Also its not really anyone other than the Welsh who thinks its "cool" to be Welsh!
Carl, Bristol,
Oops.. I mean to write 6,000,000,000+ - maths was never my strong point.
Tina, Dusseldorf, Germany
It is such a shame how a positive article can attract such twisted, negative and political comment. Wales is just trying to flurrish, so let it! Da iawn boios! ;)
Obviously these people that have left these comments need to be told! "I'm not being funny but You need to get yourself a life, what you just said then was REALLY boring!!"
Jonathan, London,
Don't forget that Newport was made a city in 2000, its having a huge redevelopment and the Celtic Manor resort is hosting the 2010 Ryder Cup. Not just Cardiff thats on the up.
Matt, cardiff,
You know why New South Wales is called that? Because all the Welsh with half a brain left for Australia when they got the chance, and half of the other half who didn't have a brain were deported to Australia anyway for their crimes... Wales could be something now, if only it had voted in the Middle Ages to become part of England and abandoned its silly little language and its quaint provincial attitudes. As it was too proud to do that, it's been left to decay, and all Welsh people of any note always leave Wales to seek their opportunity elsewhere. Its two reasonably sized cities are hideous, and the rest of the country is pretty but pretty much an anachronism. To think that some people actually want independent status for Wales is laughable! Even as part of the UK, Wales failed by remaining a region separated from England. You think an independent Republic of Wales would be able to make it? It's like Tasmania declaring itself independent of Australia.
Paul, Sydney, New South WALES, Australia
OK, so Wales is hip now, because some types in the media have noticed a few coincidences and tenuous links to Wales in popular culture and thought, "Hmmm, maybe we can spin this out into a story so we don't have to make the effort to find any real news, because that would be hard work, wouldn't it, and we're lazy media bastards", so they got the idea to christen Wales as the latest embodiment of hip in their lexicon of BS. If they had actually gone to the trouble of going to Wales and interviewing a few people, they'd have seen that Wales is in fact the antithesis of hip. The only way you can call it hip is if you subscribe to the ironic, post-modernist view that something can become hip precisely because it's so incredibly unhip and naff. You know, "it's so bad, it's good". What made me laugh is that the Welsh guy who is boosting Wales decided to move to Kuwait.
jeff, london, london
Wales is not, and will not ever be, cool.
Matt, Sevenoaks, UK
Hugo,
You have got it right with one exception. Wales Millennium Centre is an international centre for the arts, but it is also a cultural icon for the Welsh nation. It is the flagship home of eight creative organisations, including Welsh National Opera, and reflects Wales's cultural aspirations. The Centre's vision is certainly to bring the best of the world to Wales, but most importantly it is also about showcasing the best of Wales to the world. Last Sunday's gala performance here was a perfect example of this dual vision being realised with the finalists of the prestigious Menuhin International Violin Competition, Dong-Suk Kang, Jennifer Pike, performing alongside the
orchestra of Welsh National Opera and Grammy award winning Welsh soprano Rebecca Evans. Our Young Artists series provides a regular stage for the emerging Welsh talent in the performing arts. Next year too we will host again the largest youth festival in Europe celebrating Welsh culture at its best.
Bet Davies, CARDIFF , WALES
Let's not forget Rhydian, the wonderful Welsh singer who would have won the last X Factor had there been as many voters in Wales as there were in Scotland... the guy was robbed!
Richard Milne, Edinburgh,
this article doesn't really convince me that wales is experiencing some kind of boom, but then, i have to say i never really felt wales was a backwater.
in the mid-90s everyone was talking about the cardiff music scene as the successor to the manchester music scene (or wherever had been flavour of the week before that), and bigging up bands like catatonia and stereophonics (unfortunately, most of these bands were terrible, but certainly the hype was there). I'm sure there were dozens of articles exactly like this one doing the rounds then.
the fact is, while wales might not compare to the cultural hotspots of the UK such as London or the north west, it does compare very well to pretty much everywhere else. when will devon or cornwall suddenly become cool eh?
adam, london,
The only people from Wales who become famous are those who leave Wales - and they only become successful AFTER they leave. True, a few Welsh people are good singers and in rare cases they can be successful if they move to America. However, that said, there's always a cheesy naffness about Welsh stars like Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, Catherine Zeta-Jones, etc. The only good-looking women in Wales are those like Catherine Zeta-Jones who are descended from those with Spanish blood, i.e. fishermen from northern Spain who settled in Wales many centuries ago. The "native" Welsh women are fiendish dragons. Even the one person here who praises Wales admits that Swansea is "ugly" and "weird". Wales has some beautiful scenery, but mind-numbingly ugly and dull urban areas. And yes, it has such an inferiority complex that anyone with any talent inevitably heads to London or overseas to better themselves. Having visited Wales, I can imagine why the teenage suicide rate is so high. It's a bleak place
Charlie, London, UK
Wales has little coverage in the uk press.At last we exist!
anthony hill, neath,
Hmm! Have you all forgotten about Bridgend and the suicides. It all looks pretty grim from that perspective.
You wont get the Welsh Assembly rushing forward to discuss that one. Denial and sweeping it all under the carpet is their game.
Colin, Carmarthen, UK
I went to Wales at the weekend - to the Brecon Beacons and despite the bad weather the place was thriving. I have noticed more and more that there are a lot of Welsh people excelling in all sorts of fields. Something good is defenitely happening there. There seems to be a lot of fit Welsh girls around too.
C Jackson, Bristol, UK
My mother's best friend was Welsh. Being a Jamaican, my mum says she was totally respected by her Welsh mate and not looked down on like she was by some (not all, reapeat, not all) of the English girls she worked with.
Maybe that's why I've always time for Welsh people I meet in London.
Patrick, London,
The Manics just won the "God Like Geniuses" Award award at the NME Awards, the stereophonics are still going and so is Tom Jones plus Cardigans are trendy again as well! - Is there no end to the coolness of Wales?
ChasNDave, Cumbria, uk
Let's not forget that Test Match cricket is to be a regular part of the Cardiff landscape - an idea unthinkable even 3 years ago.
I'm not so sure that we are all so very proud of the Assembly or that it has had that much to do with Wales's resurgence - Torchwood by itself is of more importance I reckon
Billy, Blackwood, Gwent
And...: Wales are really pretty also; Hay on Wye, Tenby, Cardiff university.....and the rest; oh, not so crowded either...
eddy jacobsen, Tennessee, USA
Wales also gave the World the 'Eagles' pub in Caernarfon.
There is nowhere else quite like it or the people who go in there.
Tom Roberts, Manchester,
It is a well known fact that in Wales the Welsh are the best at just about everything . The English made up silly stories in the past about our accent and distrust of foreigners . Let it be known that Wales is the place to be and the Welsh , the people to be seen with and heard of . It all started when Martyn Williams blew a kiss to someone at the end of the Wales France rugby match .
Andrew ex pat, Paris , France
Wales is also the country that gave the world Goldie Looking Chain!
Luke, London, UK
Umm, Emma, there are daily articles in the English press about how "call" it is to be English, so isn't it OK to have one article about Wales? Oh, by the way, the reason not a lot of fuss is made about St George's day is not out of political correctness, but because most English people don't care about it - witness the fact that even you have got the date wrong, as St George's day is tomorrow, not Sunday.
Gareth Price, London,
I spent many of my summer holidays down in Cardiff staying with my relatives and going on exciting trips to, Bristol Zoo, Weston-Super-Mare and other places in England as there was very little to do in Cardiff and South Wales in the late 70’s and early 80’s.
What a difference 20 years and a great deal of investment makes. Cardiff is now a thriving city offering all of the amenities that you could ever dream of, Newport has been given a new lease of life over the last couple of years, with its sparkling new bridges and developments which have transformed the city centre, Swansea has the new SA1 development offering water side living and sophisticated dinning, and the ripple effect is pushing out to the rest of the towns and villages. However, there is still a great deal of poverty in Wales and further investment is needed outside of the major town and cities.
The staging of the FA Cup within the Millennium Stadium was one of the best things that could have ever happened to Wales. People began to realise what we have to offer and the perception that we all work down the pits with our little picks and shovels was shattered.
Cardiff is multi-cultural and diverse city, which is still personal and then you also have the Brecon Beacons, the Gower and world class amenities on your doorstep. You are able to talk to your neighbour, bump into people you know on the street, and that why I have stayed here since graduating from University and I am bringing up my family here.
EC Probert, Cardiff,
Ask any Welshman when is St David's Day, any Scot St Andrews' and I am sure the vast majority will get it right.
Come on emma from england, have another guess.
Greg, Swansea ex-pat (Now Kuwait),
I would agree,Scotland is on the road to Independence.Devolution has backfired on Labour and unionists in Scotland and the longer the SNP are in Power more and more Scots are warming to the idea ,Even labour MSPs have accepted that.
Unionists in Scotland are looked at as Beggers out with bowl to London.I find welsh folks very freindly,And most English folk are too .
E Reynolds, GLASGOW, SCOTLAND
'Let's face it, Wales is like Belgium but less exotic.'
The Welsh mountains are definitely better than the Belgian mountains!
Bob-B, Colchester,
Na, I'm not seeing it. I grew up and lived in Swansea for 18 years, most of us regarded it as a decaying dump. Frequent visits back there and despite several refittings in the city centre, everything outside it is still a depressing, stagnant slum.
Oh yeah, Bridgend.
Jeff, Manchester,
It has been making international news, and I'm willing to beat more people can find Wales on a map then Belgium. One village does not a country make, so drawing conclusions about a country from one tragic series of events is sad and says more about you then anything else.
Ben, Brisbane, Australia
The attitude of Londoners towards the rest of Britain was best summed up by Mahatma Gandhi, "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win."
David Roberts, Nimes, France
Wales winning the Grand Slam, Swansea City champions of Division 1, Cardiff City in the FA cup final, Joe Calzaghe world champion...... all we need now is a Neil Kinnock comeback as PM.
Greg, Swansea ex-pat (Now Kuwait),
like the rest of the scots, english, n irish the welsh (eg hopkins, zeta jones dylan t) leave for america if given half the chance just like sean connery , the spice girls, hugh laurie julie andrews........ they dont really deep down want to live in these isles either
jim alison, UK, UK
I've been saying for decades that the Welsh form a small elite. Fewer than 3 million (there are many English people there who don't like being there so I'm not counting them) out of 6,000,000+. Pretty exclusive I'd say. Mostly mad or drunk, or at the very least eccentric, but always interesting.
Tina, Dusseldorf, Germany
This just goes to show that, these days, you can put a positive PR spin on anything. To make any place cool, just associate it with a few flavour-of-the-month references from popular culture. The indisputable fact is that, to the majority of people, Wales is always going to be something of a joke, and a byword for "boring rural backwater". Almost nobody outside the UK has any idea where Wales is located. Even if they do, they'd have difficulty naming anything Wales is famous for. Let's face it, Wales is like Belgium but less exotic and without anything important like the European Parliament. It never makes the news internationally, not even since the (20+ now) Bridgend suicides. The world press has not reported on that story. All that people around the world know about Wales is that's endangered and it should be saved from the Japanese fishing vessels. Belgium is, in fact, a terribly exciting place compared to Wales.
Griffiths, Hong Kong, China
About time someone tooK Wales seriously. The amount of talent to come from that small corner of the uk is simply remarkable.
Andrew Davies, Stockholm, Sweden
Well i'm sorry to rain on your parade but it seems something is not quite right down in the valley's, why are so many young people sadly commiting suicide there, like i said something is not right.
Trevor Brooks, Exeter, England
You forgot to mention Swansea City football club, Champions of League One.
Russell Gibbon, Newport, Newport
It seems our sense of self esteem is largely tied to the performance of our rugby team as the author noted it hasn't been this cool to be Welsh since the 1970s.
I hope Wales doesn't become too popular though, otherwise it'll be full of tourists, thats the great thing I love about the place its undiscovered practically.
;-)
Ian Jones, Swansea Expat, Malaysia
What a fantastic positive article that is very simple, true and inspiring! As a Welshman who is excited about the wave the country is riding I don't think its a temporary thing. Our country is feeling waking up and finding its own feet in a small, simple and confident manner. We no longer need to shout about it and feel inferior its about identity, becoming more skilled and a mind shift that is a gradual process that has only just started.
From the Assembly to television to sport our nation is getting its act together and is looking at itself and not over its shoulder. Growing, more worldly wise, more content is its own fantastic surroundings.
Its taken a long time for this shift to happen but we seem to be cohesive, live in harmony with each other and yes there are problems, many social but I am confident that in time and generations we will bring about the change required and not stop and watch as the world passes!
Matthew Lloyd, Cardiff, Wales
why have we not got why it is call to be English? after all it was ST. Georges day on Sunday. Prbably because it is not politically correct.
emma, england,
We moved to Swansea from N London exactly 12 months ago to run a vegetarian cafe & holistic centre. To say our whole life has changed would be an understatement - there is something so casual and relaxed (and yet perversely uptight) about the way of life here, that it provides daily comedy (& a little teeth grinding). Still, for all its eccentricities, I wouldn't rather be anywhere else right now than this "ugly, lovely town" perched on the edge of the UK's finest bay and on the doorstep of the natural wonder of the Gower.
It's wet, often weird, wildly contradictory and fist-gnawingly frustrating at times, yet it has a character that superior metropolitans wouldn't understand or value.
Without being conceited, there's something very primal and real about living here - as if you're somehow connected to the landscape like nowhere else.
Gavin may seem reluctant to move to Wales, but you can really start to see why Stacey could never really be happy anywhere but here.
Nick Acton, Swansea, Wales