Speakers of Welsh as a first language

1911	44	percent
1931	37	percent
1951	28	percent
1971	20	percent
1991	19	percent

Because of fears that the language might disappear completely, Welsh language study has become compulsory in Welsh schools, and there is now Welsh medium radio and television. As a result 19 per cent still use Welsh, mainly in the north west and mid-Wales and many more over a wide area now understand it. The survival of the Welsh language is the most notable way in which the Welsh keep their special identity.

The cultural divide between Anglo-Welsh and Welsh Wales a century ago has been replaced by new divides:

1 'Welsh-speaking Wales', those parts of western Wales which still retain the Welsh language as a living culture. It is only in Welsh-speaking Wales that Plaid Cymru candidates have been elected to Westminster.

2 'Radical Wales', the southern industrial valleys of Wales, where Welsh is no longer spoken but Welsh identity is still expressed through dissent, by voting for Labour within the wider context of Britain.

3 'English Wales', the far south-west tip (Pembrokeshire) and a broad belt of Wales adjacent to England, which have been heavily settled by the English, and where about half the population no longer think of themselves as Welsh. It is only in English Wales that the Conservative Party remains a significant political force.

In the 1997 referendum, 'Welsh-speaking' and 'Radical' Wales tended to vote for devolution while 'English' Wales voted mainly against. In that sense Wales remains a divided country.

Welsh nationalism remains essentially a cultural movement. The language, eisteddfods, male-voice choirs, chapel attendance and rugby football were all traditional symbols of Welsh identity and pride. Yet apart from the language and rugby football the rest have either disappeared or are in rapid decline, leaving high unemployment and low morale in much of southern Wales. Yet Wales attracts more foreign investment than most other parts of Britain, and is largely free of English class consciousness. In the words of Martin Skipton of the newspaper Wales on Sunday: 'People in Wales don't have the same sort of deference you might get among the middle classes in, say, south-east England toward people regarded as higher up the scale.' Yet a new elite has emerged, a highly educated Welsh-speaking elite, nicknamed the Crachach ('upstarts' or 'snobs') who are resented LY by many Welsh who speak only English. In the words of the Welsh film maker Karl Francis, 'the Welsh-speaking mafia exclude English-speaking Welsh people: they don't want us in Wales. The Welsh-speaking mafia regards the culture heritage as being its own property.' However, for both groups it is difficult to resist the waves of homogeneous culture from England and further afield, and many Welsh have a sense of retreat.