I don't think I'll ever understand it. I can't think of any reason for it other than fear of change, of difference, of anything that threatens the position of insecure men (and some women) in the status quo. This position, despite what they like to tell you about the threats of wokery and secret liberal elites, is still one of overwhelming power and privilege.
I'm talking, of course, about the reaction to the leadership of the Brecon Beacons National Park deciding it will now be officially known as Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog. To get the latest news from WalesOnline sent straight to your inbox, sign up for the WalesOnline newsletter here.
I don't remember any of these people being angry when the name of the Second Severn Crossing was changed to Prince of Wales Bridge without anyone in Wales being asked how they felt about it (so annoyed were lots of people in Wales by the renaming of the bridge, however, that the official renaming ceremony involving Prince Charles and First Minister Carwyn Jones was held pretty much in secret).
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The usual suspects lost it, as you knew they would. "We are losing our minds," said Nigel Farage. Telegraph writer and former aide to Margaret Thatcher, Nile Gardiner, called it "insane".
"We are now in the realms of mental illness," said TV presenter Mark Dolan, whose recent "alternative Match of the Day" on GB News happens to be the most insane thing I can remember seeing on TV.
John Humphrys weighed in, saying it was "baffling" and would make people "cross". He's right about it making people cross. But there's nothing baffling about it. Well, nothing other than why it evokes such anger in privileged people with significant platforms and absolutely nothing to fear or lose; people who proudly wave union flags and talk about putting the "great" back in Great Britain but who are also instinctively intolerant of anything that departs from the very narrow view I suspect they have of what Britain should be.
To state the obvious, Bannau Brycheiniog is not a new name. It is the Welsh name for an area of Wales and the people of Wales can call it what they like. If the people charged with stewardship of the park feel that they want to play their part in the fight for the future of Welsh language and culture, then fair play to them for taking a stance. It's a stance that is necessary and important, not only because Wales has a heritage, culture and language to be celebrated and protected, but also because, as we are regularly shown, there are an awful lot of people who are keen to stamp it out.
"Protecting the Welsh language should be a valued cause for British conservatives," wrote Welsh historian Martin Johnes this week. He's right. But even if they don't want to do that, Welsh people celebrating and protecting Welsh things has absolutely no impact on them and they can continue to call them the Brecon Beacons for as long as they want, in the same way people can ignore the new name for the Second Severn Crossing.
Read more:
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- 18 spectacular Welsh sayings that will make you say 'How the hell did we think of that?'
