From
'Living in Room 101'
by Kevin Williams, Planet 147

Anne Robinson's sad little affair in Room 101 stirred up a furore in Wales. The columns of our newspapers were full of indignant letters and aggrieved comment in response to her "outrageous and offensive remarks" (The Western Mail, 12.3.01). Politicians huffed and puffed. Monmouth MP Huw Edwards said she had "tarnished the image of Wales and the people of Wales," while Plaid chief Ieuan Wyn Jones wrote in the News of the World (11.3.01) of the widespread agreement in Wales that she had "gone beyond the bounds of acceptable comment". Other MPs called for Robinson to be hauled before the Welsh Affairs Select Committee to apologise for her "racism", a charge echoed in the Welsh Mirror which branded her "the racist link" (6.3.01) for her attack on the country, its people and its language. John Humphrys and Huw Edwards, our successes in BBC London, stood up to defend the nation's honour in its time of need. Humphrys as "a proud Welshman" told Daily Mail readers that Wales is a "cultural jewel" with "great singers who tower above the world's great opera houses as well as the popular music scene" (8.3.01), while Edwards crossed swords with his bosses over their decision to repeat the Robinson interview. Even normally sensible political figures such as Paul Flynn joined the bandwagon, offering a list to thank the Lord we are Welsh - unfortunately the list mostly comprised the same tired old names, including Shirley Bassey and Tom Jones (South Wales Echo, 9.3.01).

What is amazing about this outpouring of injured pride is how quickly a tasteless, unamusing joke, cracked on a relatively unwatched television programme, became a major matter of national honour and respect. Many figures in the political and cultural elite of our nation as well as a segment of popular opinion have tried - and are still trying - to represent Robinson's ill-chosen words as, symbolically, a defining moment in Welsh political life. We are being told we must seriously engage with Robinson as her remarks represent a pattern of anti-Welshness that is becoming more acceptable in British life. The nation must rise with one voice to challenge these derogatory and insulting words about who we are. For some, this represents Wales finding its feet. It is a reflection of a new-found national vigour that indicates that we are no longer going to put up with the litany of anti-Welsh jibes that have littered our history. The First Minister warned anyone thinking of following Robinson's example that "we are not putting up with this any more" (yougov.com 30.3.01).

How can we explain the emotional spasm of Robinson's Welsh incident? Perhaps we should see it as a symptom of a more deep-seated and multi-layered malaise over what devolution is and should be about. Robinson's perceived slights have had such an impact because of the vacuum in political thinking in the "new" Wales. It is important to remember Wales and her people were totally unprepared for devolution. Unlike Scotland, there was no popular demand for political change. Wales never went through the process of discussing what devolution could and should mean as the Scots did with their Constitutional Convention. The leading political force in the land, the Wales Labour Party, did not have enough confidence to encourage public debate nor even open discussion amongst its own members. And with the chronic under-development of civil society there were no powerful, independent voices outside the political process able to pursue a discourse with policy-makers and the public about devolution.

The Welsh media did attempt a few pages here, and a few programmes there, around what The Western Mail labelled "The Nationhood Debate", but in an overwhelmingly tabloid-reading nation whose aerials are more often than not tuned into English television these efforts passed by most people. And, perhaps on a more controversial point, it seemed to me that Wales's cultural elite never really departed from individual reflections on what it means to be Welsh in order to organise any serious collective interaction with the public. Hence the only debate about what devolution and the National Assembly could do for Wales was crammed into the period between Tony Blair's election victory and the 1997 referendum. Such a politically charged atmosphere was not conducive to serious reflection…