Rip the flags down! A call for action!

No shit Sherlock you are middle class and white and wealthy.

It’s not about flying the flag. Do that by all means - on your own property. It’s about hanging it badly out of your own garden or vandalising road markings.

Nobody is saying flying the flag means you are racist. They are saying hanging it all over the place and vandalising roundabouts etc means you are trying to intimidate and have been egged on by racists. Many people are able to feel proud of their country without having to fly a flag, but if they want to show their pride that way, on their own property, that is - and always has been - fine.

Ah well, there are a lot of pride flags that need to be torn down in that case then. ✌️

Yes, all flags. The owner of the property can fly what they like (as long as what’s on it doesn’t break laws, if it’s visible). Nobody can put any flag on someone else’s property.

PLEASE DON'T TAKE THESE FLAGS DOWN. Stunts like this put myself and other ethnic minorities in a really unsafe position. This "project" has been orchestrated by far right groups. So when they notice their flags are going missing, it's not you that will be blamed in their social media posts. It's people like me.

The fact that your first thought is to just rip the flags down and post it on Mumsnet actually shows what a position of privilege you hold. Do you know what MY first thought was? At least they're too distracted to approach me in the street when I'm with my child, and tell me to go back to where I came from. At least they're not shouting slurs at me, like they did post Brexit.

For the record, I'm British. I was born here. Both parents are British, three of my grandparents are not. One came over from Europe post war and worked as a nurse. The other two were part of the Windrush generation. ALL my grandparents have worked within the NHS. I am incredibly proud to be "British with diverse roots". Even though I will never be British to the people who hang up these flags.

This may be controversial but you are probably reacting like this because this is likely your first tangible experience of some of the UK's political undercurrents. My first memory of racism was when I was around age 8. But my first EXPERIENCE of racism was when I was a baby in my pram and someone walked past my mum and said things about the colour of my skin. I'm not saying you aren't aware these undercurrents exist. Just that these flags coming up are probably the first time you've not been able to escape it. I'm brown. I haven't ever been able to escape it.

The far right hanging flags from bridges might seem like a big deal to you. But in the scheme of things it's pretty minor, and it's keeping certain types of people quiet. I don't want them to disrespect our flag by turning it into a symbol of hate, I don't want them to hang our flags up and leave them to rot when the weather turns. But I really don't want minorities to be blamed for throwing flags away because it will make things so much worse for us.

Don't fuck up the lives and peace of ethnic minorities because you want to feel like you're doing something.

https://hopenothate.org.uk/2025/08/22/operation-raise-the-colours-organised-by-well-known-far-right-extremists/

I've only seen a few but would take them down if I could. They're not patriotic, they are a symbol of racism and fascism in this day and age. I am white British and can trace my family back in the West country (not that it really matters)and seeing these flags and the protests make me ashamed to be British. Especially as a lot of the 'protesters' don't work and have convictions for assaults on women and girls yet for some reason are holding banners saying they are protecting them !

Not sure why you're being so aggressive to someone who genuinely wants to learn. You have issues. Yes I did learn British history at school but at no point did it cover the English flag being unable to be flown IN ENGLAND.

That's all we need, thugs trying to intimidate people by ripping their flags down.

St George’s School Windsor has the St George flag as their emblem and they are also flying the flag on their pole.
Windsor castle also has the St George flag flying.

Is that racist? What you are trying to say is due to the working poor recently flying the flag of this country it is “racist”. You are a bigot.

But you can do that for any country. Google "far right Spain", what flag are those guys wrapped up in?

Goodness me.

There's a worrying number of people who seem to be positively salivating at the prospect of people trying to take a stand against racist intimidation getting their "comeuppance" if they're spotted. People who think it's perfectly fine to target groups of other people that they have been primed to believe are the root cause of all our problems. People who would happily knit at the tumbrils to boot.

But it's just flags, just pride in our country, just the result of disenfranchisement. Right.

It's a perfect illustration of how the people in this country can be used as pawns to lay the groundwork for stronger authoritarian measures. Nobody will get any brownie points, and we all end up with a boot stamping on our faces forever. Brilliant.

In both areas of Northern Ireland. Loyalist and republican. As my previous posts on the thread I thought made clear?

Good for you op. If I was braver (and taller) I would do the same.
There is nothing wrong with the flag per se but it is being used by far right idiots to intimidate, like you say.
I remember being witness to a conversation when someone was saying "Why is saying P* offensive? It's just short for Pakistani." But it's obviously racist and offensive because it's used by people with that intent. (Which is what people said in reply)
I feel like it's the same with the flags.
I think the flag being put on inappropriate places is actually disrespecting the flag anyway. And painting it on zebra crossings where people drive over it seems wrong!
It seems like a cardinal sin not to be proud of your country. I am British and English. Whilst I'm proud of some things there's also quite a lot to be ashamed about unfortunately.

Why is your opinion more important than, say, mine?
YABU

And you are a virtue signalling intolerant liberal.

Who are you to determine where it is appropriate to fly a flag? Every other country flies their home flag but because it's the English flag it's not allowed. You have too much time on your hands.

Go to Google, click on image search, type "far right England"

That might give you an idea.

Also see https://hopenothate.org.uk/2025/08/22/operation-raise-the-colours-organised-by-well-known-far-right-extremists/ for what is behind this current wave of flags.

Sorry to hear about the defacing of roundabouts, at least the flags are easy enough removed. Hopefully it will be a short lived movement. It is annoying when legitimate national symbols are misappropriated to spread hate.

Honestly have maybe seen one or two flags but am fairly sure they have been up since the Euros, if not before! No painted roundabouts though.

I'm in the south-east, Greater London suburb. Tons of flags here, as well as painted roundabouts etc.

What age are you. Did you never do British history at any point in your life. Do you never read the papers.

That the St George flag has been co-opted by the right wing of English nationalism should be obvious to a blind man on a galloping horse.

I would be really interested as to what kind of areas these are being put up in- we live in a fairly deprived area and by some posters' estimations on here (on another thread as well) there is an intimation that it is lower class/uneducated people doing this-I am not sure that is true-it certainly isn't here.

Much like small children, the racists hoisting these flags (yes, I know others are trying to ‘reclaim’ it) are just looking for attention. Pulling them down only plays into their hands, feeding their narrative of “double standards” and the idea that they’re not “allowed” to be patriotic. Ignore the performance and it will lose steam, most will get bored soon enough.
The flag-waving is a convenient distraction, giving them an easy way to shout about imagined grievances without addressing the real issues. Farage and others rely on these shallow tactics precisely because they can’t deal with proper debate so a better tactic is take on the real issues directly not get drawn into the fluff and theatre of flags.

@Dontletthebedbugsbite2 It has always been the case that the England and Union flags, when flown in unofficial settings (so not on public buildings) by English people, are strongly associated with far right, racist, anti immigration politics. This is well known.

There has been some attempts to 'reclaim the flag', especially during major sporting events, but that is more about little flags on cars, not hanging them in gardens or on lamp posts.

My neighbour has a flag, and I suspect it is her, in collusion with the local window cleaner, who are responsible for the flags on our street. She has a very loud voice and talks constantly with no filter so I know exactly how she thinks.

Over the weekend we've had to endure her opinions to all and sundry about how 'they're all here for the benefits, put up in 4 star hotels with 4 poster beds with all their food provided and they're still stealing from Greggs' and the like and how she saw it on GB News so it must be true.

Also that all the high streets are dying and have been taken over by 'their' shops, in the same breath as how she got her flag from Amazon.

The above conversation was had with another neighbour, who is Polish, but he's OK now because he's white and speaks fluent English and he's also racist. Despite her expressing the same sentiments previously about Eastern Europeans 'coming over here and taking all the jobs and getting all the benefits'.

This is the same woman who has also previously proclaimed that she would 'never work full time because she gets the same money as she would working PT and topped up by benefits', which didn't work out so well for her when her DC became adults.

There's probably a venn diagram out there that shows almost complete overlap between people who have put a flag up in the last few weeks and people who voted Reform in the last election.

Meanwhile in another act of derring do OP has made two cups of tea out of one tea bag and is sat wondering if she would shave her legs in a radical move against all her principles if ever there was a chance of bedding Corbyn.

How did your flag hunt go, op? Did you catch more than one this time?