Would you fly a flag for your country?

GrannyGravy13

Has the Welsh flag been appropriated?

Apologies I am find it impossible to post pictures at the moment.

During protests outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Wales at the weekend people were draped in the Welsh flag.

Has that now been appropriated by the far right ?

Will it now become a representation of racism?

I will hazard a guess and say no…

Several homes round us fly our County flag.

Has the Welsh flag been appropriated?

Allira

Whitewavemark2

I suppose a Cornish flag is ok, but I really don’t see the point. I don’t understand what I am saying and to whom.

Why has a second flag thread been started? What happened to the first one.

Why the obsession with flags all of a sudden.

Weird.

Why is a Cornish flag ok but a Union flag not?

Just wondering.

Our neighbours had a Cornish flag in their garden but neither were, as far as I know, Cornish. I have links to Cornwall but don't fly the flag.

Why is the Welsh flag fine but not the English flag or Union flag?

It's a conundrum.

Isn’t it just.

And the biggest conundrum is the way all these people have suddenly found it necessary to show such patriotic fervour after never ever feeling the need to do so, barring coronations, football etc.

There has, of course always been the odd person who for whatever reason erects a big pole in their garden and hoists a flag. I always rather thought of them as eccentric but harmless.

However, one can’t put the recent bout of flag waving in the same league. No, it is about more than eccentricity.

And the Cornish flag? Tongue in cheek I’m afraid. Why Cornwall? Because I am Cornish.

Anyone thought to gather all the recent information to see why the sudden urge to fly the flag? I see growstuffhas which is a pointer don’t you think?

Whitewavemark2

I simply don’t understand this sudden urge to hang a flag on a pole.

5 years ago or even last year I bet hardly anyone on this thread flew a flag or indeed even gave it a thought.

Are people being led by the nose - this is all very odd.

Sorry I don't agree. We have often flown the flag. Not as a permanent feature but there is nothing wrong with that.

For us it was the flag of St. George and the Union flag usually in the form of bunting for royal/national events. Our five sons flew larger flags for sporting events and at times they became a feature in their bedrooms.

I don't really like the red crosses appearing on road crossing. Some councils painted them in rainbow colours that was equally as bad and a waste of money. Not the same as putting up a flag pole in your own garden or draping a flag over a balcony.

Nothing odd about it at all. One of our neighbours flies the Union flag permanently in his back garden. Another flies the flag of St. George and the Ukrainian flag. I think that appeared when Russia invaded Ukraine. They are hurting no one.

There are a lot of flags on public buildings and some schools here. I have no problem with it at all. Not many private dwellings fly flags except on special days. The flag of St. George is a wonderful flag and I would be proud to fly it if I was living in England, though I wouldn’t fly it over my own home because that seems rather unnecessary. I certainly wouldn’t fly a flag from any other country ( except Wales because I have ancestral ties there)

Oreo

There are actually three scenarios going on, not two.
The first is the right wing encouraging such things as painting roundabouts and wrapping themselves in the Union flag and what have you, the second is normal and reasonable people thinking that flying our own flag and bunting is a very nice idea, lots of countries do it including Wales and Scotland and it brightens up the place.The third is people who will have no truck whatsoever with their own country’s flag and will only seemingly tolerate Palestinian flags, Pride flags or Cornish flags or anything else.
This stems from extreme rightwing groups appropriating our flag but the more we fly both the English and Union flags in England then the less it belongs to them and belongs to us.

Spot on!

I haven't seen any flags at all here as yet, apart from the usual ones on the Council offices etc (not surprisingly).

MayBee70

Whitewavemark2

I simply don’t understand this sudden urge to hang a flag on a pole.

5 years ago or even last year I bet hardly anyone on this thread flew a flag or indeed even gave it a thought.

Are people being led by the nose - this is all very odd.

Yes they are. It’s frightening. And nasty.

So Cool Britannia in the 1990's was nasty, was it?

Whitewavemark2

I simply don’t understand this sudden urge to hang a flag on a pole.

5 years ago or even last year I bet hardly anyone on this thread flew a flag or indeed even gave it a thought.

Are people being led by the nose - this is all very odd.

Some of you have very short memories!

The Cool Britannia phase was a mid to late-1990s cultural movement and a media-coined term for Britain's perceived renaissance in art, fashion, music, and design, often associated with New Labour and Tony Blair. The movement's visual symbols included the Union Jack, which was recontextualized and adopted by musicians like the Spice Girls and Noel Gallagher, as well as artists and designers, to represent a new, modern, and optimistic British identity.

🇬🇧

Was there this fuss about Geri? 😀
Remember when being British was cool?

Whitewavemark2

I suppose a Cornish flag is ok, but I really don’t see the point. I don’t understand what I am saying and to whom.

Why has a second flag thread been started? What happened to the first one.

Why the obsession with flags all of a sudden.

Weird.

Why is a Cornish flag ok but a Union flag not?

Just wondering.

Our neighbours had a Cornish flag in their garden but neither were, as far as I know, Cornish. I have links to Cornwall but don't fly the flag.

Why is the Welsh flag fine but not the English flag or Union flag?

It's a conundrum.

At least there were plenty of flags for the crowd outside a hotel in Norwich this weekend. I guess they were just showing a British welcome to asylum seekers, having reclaimed the flag (for whom?).

Turning Point UK (TPUK) is a British offshoot of the American student pressure group Turning Point USA. The UK group was set up to promote right-wing politics in UK schools, colleges and universities, with the stated aim of countering what Turning Point UK alleges are the left-wing politics of UK educational institutions.

Just ordinary citizens reclaiming the English flag from far-right thugs?

This isn't legal and is dangerous.

Oreo

Casdon

Roads are not the place for any distractions, surely? Standardised road signs, including zebra crossings, are standardised because it makes them safer. Flags on lamp posts, painted roads etc just cause accidents because they are distractions.

I would agree about road signs and roundabouts they should be left alone.
Not so lamp posts as my own town festoons or used to, EU countries flags on them all Summer long.
Who bothers to look at lamp posts when driving.Councils have also bedecked lamp posts with Pride flags at times.

My daughter drove from Manchester to Essex to see me today. She didn't know anything about the online initiative to fly flags, but noticed them. She said they were a distraction.

Here’s some info about the ordinary citizen behind the initiative responsible for many of the flags:

The co-founder and organiser of the group is Andrew Currien (AKA Andy Saxon), a longtime Stephen Lennon (AKA Tommy Robinson). Formerly a key member of the English Defence League’s leadership bodyguard team and now running security for the far-right party Britain First, Currien has previously been jailed for his part in a racist death. He was one of six men convicted in 2009 after a 59-year-old man was crushed to death by a car following a violent brawl.

Currien’s X account links to a fundraising page where he is collecting money to “help us purchase new flags so we can continue putting them up”. He has also posted: “In the last 24hrs, we have supplied 6 districts with a thousand flags. These districts include Wolverhampton, West Bromwich, Worcester, Dudley, Stourbridge and Staffordshire.

Of course, there’s nothing illegal about flying flags in most places, but it’s always useful to know the reason for them.

Casdon

Roads are not the place for any distractions, surely? Standardised road signs, including zebra crossings, are standardised because it makes them safer. Flags on lamp posts, painted roads etc just cause accidents because they are distractions.

I would agree about road signs and roundabouts they should be left alone.
Not so lamp posts as my own town festoons or used to, EU countries flags on them all Summer long.
Who bothers to look at lamp posts when driving.Councils have also bedecked lamp posts with Pride flags at times.

The people shouting and protesting at hotels where migrants are housed were flying, or draped in the British flag.
The interest in the flag seems to gave been aroused since then. I would not wave a flag nor draped it round me. I think it's shameful.

Casdon

I’m just going by what she said, particularly in her last post Oreo, she asked for it to be taken down because the replies had upset her, when she was looking for support.

She only wanted her own view commiserated with perhaps.
Posters did give advice as far as I saw, but there’s only so much they could reasonably say.
Whenever I see our flags flown from the town hall it looks great and I would like to see more in town centres.Some towns do have bunting now and then ( Union) which brightens things up.
This present situation has been brought about by people wanting an end to unlimited immigration both legal and illegal it’s true, but if as a result we saw more flags used in general then I would be happy about it.Am tired of the apologists for everything English or British being bad, it isn’t.

Roads are not the place for any distractions, surely? Standardised road signs, including zebra crossings, are standardised because it makes them safer. Flags on lamp posts, painted roads etc just cause accidents because they are distractions.

'This stems from extreme rightwing groups appropriating our flag but the more we fly both the English and Union flags in England then the less it belongs to them and belongs to us.'

Exactly. I'm also puzzled by those who 'know' that many are flying flags to intimidate others. Have they interviewed every flag flyer? I also find it a little sad that some have said they won't fly a flag 'In case someone thinks they are thugs' What are we becoming if we won't take an action in case someone we don't know thinks we are doing something for reasons that we actually are not... Confused? I am.

valdavi

But Oreo, the flags look the same whether they are flown by extreme right-wing groups or by normal and reasonable people.
So how are we re-claiming our flag when onlookers might see a Union flag outside your reasonable family's home and think that you're flying it for extremist reasons?
I do think if that's what people want to do, fair enough but it's not traditional in this country.

But it could become tradition, that’s the point.And if it did, then the ones losing out would be the extreme right wing groups.

Deedaa I only look at GN now and MN and keep off everything else but I can imagine what some people are like online.
The painting of roundabouts is ridiculous and I have no time at all for groups such as BNP and so on.
But on the subject of any citizen wishing to fly our own flag and public buildings flying them also, then I like the idea very much and think it’s high time we in England should like seeing our flag just as the Welsh and Scottish and Irish do.Simple as that.

growstuff

GrannyGravy13

I think it’s time for citizens of England to reclaim their flag from the hooligans.

Why now? because it is being increasingly being linked to anti this that and the other.

Daubing flags on buildings, mini roundabouts and zebra crossings is hooligan behaviour. It's criminal damage and costs local authorities taxpayers' money to remove them.

But painting rainbow stripes on zebra crossings is OK?

I’m just going by what she said, particularly in her last post Oreo, she asked for it to be taken down because the replies had upset her, when she was looking for support.