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Would you fly a flag for your country?

(823 Posts)
Sago Sun 24-Aug-25 19:27:43

I was born in England but am of Irish heritage, I am proud of both England and Ireland.

My daughter lives on the outskirts of a village that has scores of union flags flying, it lifts my spirits as we drive in.

On a recent trip to Norway I loved seeing all the homes flying their flag and wondered why we don’t have same sense of patriotism.

I will fly a flag, I’m going to order a pole and we will fly the flag my husbands grandparents flew on their flagpole on VE Day.

I am not a racist, our grandchildren are mixed race, we have friends who are Congolese, Sri Lankan, Egyptian etc.

I am however British and very proud, we need to reclaim our flag and our pride.

Allira Sun 31-Aug-25 12:03:38

MayBee70

My partner has neighbours who everybody hates. Their property is on the market but, for some reason never sells. One of them lied about my partner calling her something abusive; Iwas there at the time and he obviously didn’t. They threw poisoned meat into their neighbours garden and tried to kill his dog ( it had to be rushed to the vet). They accused another neighbour of being a paedophile ( he isn’t). The police are always calling at their house for one reason or another. And guess what, they’ve just put an England and Union Jack flag up in their garden. The only house on the estate to have done so sad. There isn’t a migrant hotel anywhere near my village ( which is probably 99.9% white British).

And I know lovely people who fly the flag and their son has just married an immigrant.
They couldn't be happier and are so thrilled for them both.

Which just shows that anecdotes can never show the whole picture.

Your poor partner, though, living next door to such awful people.

PoliticsNerd Sun 31-Aug-25 11:58:04

GrannyGravy13

I am tempted to go on Amazon and order a flag pole and several flags after reading this thread 😹🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇬🇧…

Why not? Show everyone just where you stand.

PoliticsNerd Sun 31-Aug-25 11:57:10

MayBee70

My partner has neighbours who everybody hates. Their property is on the market but, for some reason never sells. One of them lied about my partner calling her something abusive; Iwas there at the time and he obviously didn’t. They threw poisoned meat into their neighbours garden and tried to kill his dog ( it had to be rushed to the vet). They accused another neighbour of being a paedophile ( he isn’t). The police are always calling at their house for one reason or another. And guess what, they’ve just put an England and Union Jack flag up in their garden. The only house on the estate to have done so sad. There isn’t a migrant hotel anywhere near my village ( which is probably 99.9% white British).

I'm sorry you're having to cope with that MayBee70.

GrannyGravy13 Sun 31-Aug-25 11:53:17

I am tempted to go on Amazon and order a flag pole and several flags after reading this thread 😹🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇬🇧…

MayBee70 Sun 31-Aug-25 11:52:56

My partner has neighbours who everybody hates. Their property is on the market but, for some reason never sells. One of them lied about my partner calling her something abusive; Iwas there at the time and he obviously didn’t. They threw poisoned meat into their neighbours garden and tried to kill his dog ( it had to be rushed to the vet). They accused another neighbour of being a paedophile ( he isn’t). The police are always calling at their house for one reason or another. And guess what, they’ve just put an England and Union Jack flag up in their garden. The only house on the estate to have done so sad. There isn’t a migrant hotel anywhere near my village ( which is probably 99.9% white British).

Mollygo Sun 31-Aug-25 11:50:37

Oreo

PoliticsNerd that’s exactly the sort of comment and non room reading that liberal elites go in for.Until it’s too late and public unrest gets out of hand and former illegal immigrants commit crimes by a disproportionate amount.

Read a bit further on for even more of what you mention.

PoliticsNerd Sun 31-Aug-25 11:46:41

Oreo

PoliticsNerd that’s exactly the sort of comment and non room reading that liberal elites go in for.Until it’s too late and public unrest gets out of hand and former illegal immigrants commit crimes by a disproportionate amount.

It's nothing to do with room reading Oreo. I tend to answer posts reflecting the tone and content used by the poster. So perhaps you can upbraid MF before you start on the replies their posts set out to spark.

Oreo Sun 31-Aug-25 11:44:58

It’s a long way from wanting a stop to unbridled immigration into a country, to fully fledged facism.

MadameFeuveral Sun 31-Aug-25 11:42:55

“I'm not on the left, as you would know if you took time to get to know anyone other than the alt-right.”

Alt-right? Give me a break 🙄

Primrose53 Sun 31-Aug-25 11:41:57

PoliticsNerd

Primrose53

Maremia

Sadly, for the folk living nearby, where those latest flags go up, the house prices go down. Estate agents claim that prospective buyers do not wish to live in areas with 'obvious anti-social behaviour'.

Ha ha, just the opposite here! We are fortunate to live in a sought after area with a lot of retired, very high ranking military personnel. For decades they have flown British and English flags outside their homes just like the Royals and I expect will continue to do so.

You wouldn’t buy one of their houses for less than a million. Some are up in the much higher millions. No decline in house prices here.

Forces personnel are generally permitted to display flags outside their quarters, provided the display adheres to relevant regulations and guidelines. So presumably the flags you are seeing are treated respectfully, as the symbol of the whole country's identity, sovereignty, and unity.

This would make a change as we so often see them being treated like do much "merch" to support some disgusting far-right trope.

Err …. The word RETIRED was relevant here!

MadameFeuveral Sun 31-Aug-25 11:41:29

Oreo

PoliticsNerd that’s exactly the sort of comment and non room reading that liberal elites go in for.Until it’s too late and public unrest gets out of hand and former illegal immigrants commit crimes by a disproportionate amount.

They’re the reason we’re in this situation. Because they refuse to countenance other people’s opinions, refuse to acknowledge people’s concerns. It’s so much easier to denigrate them and patronise them than it is to engage with their ideas and concerns.

So this is a problem of their own making.

PoliticsNerd Sun 31-Aug-25 11:41:24

Answer to MadameFeuveral.

PoliticsNerd Sun 31-Aug-25 11:40:28

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

Casdon Sun 31-Aug-25 11:36:20

Allira

If it is a matter of infrastructure problems, then for goodness sake why not set about rectifying them rapidly instead of squandering millions on hare-brained schemes and hotels?
I'm sure, when any possible (not probable) structural problems are rectified, asylum seekers themselves would be capable of slapping on some paint etc.

I believe that is happening, but it does take time if they have to do surveys, let contracts, full scale renovations, improve drainage, replace roofs, etc. etc. on a large number of very large quarters. I walked round one near me a few years ago, and the state it was in was semi derelict, it must have been neglected for many years before the troops were moved out. The land was sold in that case, everything was demolished, and housing built on the site.
What I don’t know is if there are enough of these sites still owned by the state, or if a lot of them have been sold off over past decades.

MadameFeuveral Sun 31-Aug-25 11:36:16

“Oh that they always had rational brains Mme Feuveral.”

It’s the typical leftist trope. Everyone who disagrees is just stupid, uneducated, and brainwashed. We saw this smearing of people as thick and irrational when Brexit happened. Doesn’t end well for the left, but they’re incapable of learning from their mistakes.

It’s the smug, self-satisfied sense of their own superiority that is the left’s undoing. So convinced of their own goodness and virtue for holding all the correct opinions.

Perhaps people shouldn’t be trusted to observe with their own eyes and ears, and should instead learn to parrot the Guardian, which would teach them everything they need to know smile

Oreo Sun 31-Aug-25 11:30:55

A lot of them will be denied asylum Allira but I have no objections to them decorating their own quarters.Just that I think a lot would refuse to do it.
Strangely, where I live there are a glut of decorating firms, both large and small and much competition between them😄ditto window cleaners.

Oreo Sun 31-Aug-25 11:27:20

PoliticsNerd that’s exactly the sort of comment and non room reading that liberal elites go in for.Until it’s too late and public unrest gets out of hand and former illegal immigrants commit crimes by a disproportionate amount.

Allira Sun 31-Aug-25 11:24:55

Oreo

Allira

If it is a matter of infrastructure problems, then for goodness sake why not set about rectifying them rapidly instead of squandering millions on hare-brained schemes and hotels?
I'm sure, when any possible (not probable) structural problems are rectified, asylum seekers themselves would be capable of slapping on some paint etc.

They would if they were genuine, but as we know most are economic migrants who want to start earning so wouldn’t.

Well, they'd get some experience painting and decorating then! Goodness knows, it's hard enough trying to get hold of decorators these days.

dragonfly46 Sun 31-Aug-25 11:24:37

Yes I would fly the flag to show I was proud of being British but not to satisfy the extreme right wing.
In the Netherlands we hung the flag (the Union Flag) out of our window when our DD passed her final school exams. It is custom there to hang the Dutch flag on occasions such as those.

MadameFeuveral Sun 31-Aug-25 11:23:39

“This would make a change as we so often see them being treated like do much "merch" to support some disgusting far-right trope.”

It’s amusing that the left think they have the monopoly on morality and ethics; preaching tolerate and kindness in one breath, while simultaneously describing another group’s views as disgusting. I wonder if you’d care to elaborate which of these views you find so disgusting?

PoliticsNerd Sun 31-Aug-25 11:18:17

MadameFeuveral

“The solution does not lie in whipping up general racial hatred and reinforcing stereotypes.”

People have eyes. They have ears. They can see and observe for themselves. They don’t need to be ‘whipped’ into anything. Do you consider that people might view the evidence in front of them and come to their own conclusions?

People have an absolute right to dislike behaviour which is both illegal and immoral. That’s not ‘general racial hatred’.

Oh that they always had rational brains Mme Feuveral.

Oreo Sun 31-Aug-25 11:17:18

Allira

If it is a matter of infrastructure problems, then for goodness sake why not set about rectifying them rapidly instead of squandering millions on hare-brained schemes and hotels?
I'm sure, when any possible (not probable) structural problems are rectified, asylum seekers themselves would be capable of slapping on some paint etc.

They would if they were genuine, but as we know most are economic migrants who want to start earning so wouldn’t.

Allira Sun 31-Aug-25 11:16:02

PoliticsNerd

Primrose53

Maremia

Sadly, for the folk living nearby, where those latest flags go up, the house prices go down. Estate agents claim that prospective buyers do not wish to live in areas with 'obvious anti-social behaviour'.

Ha ha, just the opposite here! We are fortunate to live in a sought after area with a lot of retired, very high ranking military personnel. For decades they have flown British and English flags outside their homes just like the Royals and I expect will continue to do so.

You wouldn’t buy one of their houses for less than a million. Some are up in the much higher millions. No decline in house prices here.

Forces personnel are generally permitted to display flags outside their quarters, provided the display adheres to relevant regulations and guidelines. So presumably the flags you are seeing are treated respectfully, as the symbol of the whole country's identity, sovereignty, and unity.

This would make a change as we so often see them being treated like do much "merch" to support some disgusting far-right trope.

No-one has said these are military quarters confused

Oreo Sun 31-Aug-25 11:15:09

Luckygirl3

No-one is saying that is no problem.

But equally no-one has a solution - and this applies to all countries who are facing this challenge.

The solution does not lie in whipping up general racial hatred and reinforcing stereotypes.

The solution lies in sending anyone who arrives here in a small boat or any other transportation illegally back, or at least saying that it will to deter.To tell them they will never be granted asylum by coming in this way.
To cut down drastically on any other legal immigration.
I think one or more of the Scandi countries has already done the same.
They have so many problems with immigrant crime and gangs.

Allira Sun 31-Aug-25 11:14:45

If it is a matter of infrastructure problems, then for goodness sake why not set about rectifying them rapidly instead of squandering millions on hare-brained schemes and hotels?
I'm sure, when any possible (not probable) structural problems are rectified, asylum seekers themselves would be capable of slapping on some paint etc.