When you come to Wales, one of your first impressions is of how delighted people here are to be Welsh. Even those who have left feel a strong pride in their Welsh identity, according to a study of the Welsh diaspora published last week. It is a source of immense pride to them that they are from Wales. It should be. It is a miracle of history that Wales and Welshness even still exists.

In the floods that devastated much of south Wales last weekend, we saw the very best of our nation. Tight communities, coming together in the face of obstacles that would shatter the morale of all but the most resilient. But after more than 16 years of calling Wales home and covering it as a journalist, I am struck by a great paradox. Though the people of Wales will go 12 rounds with anyone who scorns their country, there is deep down a seeming acceptance among many that it is Wales’s lot to be perpetually treated as less of a nation than Scotland.

There are obvious symbolic issues. Wales is the only UK nation not to have any representation on the union flag. And why would it? For all intents and purposes, for much of the past half of a millennium Wales was simply part of England. In 1888, under the “Wales” section of the Encyclopaedia Britannica it simply read: “See England”. Even the very currency in our hands underlines our perceived lesser nationhood. The royal coat of arms (which is everywhere) is divided into four quadrants: one containing the harp of Ireland, one showing the lion of Scotland and the other two both containing the three lions of England. For Wales, See England indeed.

In addition to the symbols are the small insults that Welsh citizens ignore. We........

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