Wales is the land of song. Now it’s being silenced by cuts that threaten our culture | Will Hayward
Language, history and arts are what make us a nation – and they’re at risk when funding is slashed to levels among the lowest in Europe
What is a nation? There are several, varying definitions, but ultimately it comes down to the same answer: a large group of people bound together through shared culture, history and language. For us in Cymru, the idea of a Welsh nation is something about which we are pretty sensitive and protective. Our most provocative historian, Gwyn Alf Williams , said that Wales has “from birth … lived with the threat of extinction” and that the survival of Welsh nationhood is “one of the minor miracles of history”.
To those of you who mainly know Wales through the occasional holiday, the Six Nations and Gareth Bale, this might sound an odd thing to say. After all, whenever you see Wales or Welsh people represented anywhere they are loudly and unequivocally, well, Welsh.