Children asking about the current influx of England flags…

[aperolspritzbasicbitch]

How do you explain it?
children are 11 and 8, just walked through an area with a few houses that are all grouped together with a LOT of flags displayed, they asked what was happening, I said nothing is and they’ve asked why there are so many flags. I’ve tried to explain it but to be honest I don’t really understand it fully myself, and think I’ve just bumbled out a lot of rubbish that they don’t really get.
Any ideas on an age appropriate way? I’ve even looked at newsround for guidance 🤣 but nothing doing!

Jesus wept. Where on earth have you seen that?

Next door app.

I haven’t told my daughter anything but she did look at the flags and say come on England so presumably she assumes footballs on.

If you’re near this one just tell them it’s to celebrate the Danes are visiting

Our zebra crossing was sprayed with red paint . Kids asked about it. I told them it was racist vandalism. They get it

Also - I’m as working class as they come, grew up in a council house on a council estate, my mums working whichever minimal wage job she could get as she didn’t finish school. Had minimal growing up, my mum survived financially day by day, sometimes meal by meal.

this isn’t a class thing.

So as the French conquered England in 1066, by the above logic we should all be flying La Tricolour !

Er, point of order. It was the Normans (hard roughie-toughie former Vikings) that conquered England. "France" wasn't in existence yet.

Exactly!

Oh hang on. That's a fact. I'll report the post, keep the thread clear.

I thought Normandy was part of France ? My bad !

So we should be flying this flag - https://www.pexels.com/photo/flag-norway-norway-flag-1253655/

France was in existence at 1066 - it just wasn't not the same size and shape as France today. William, as Duke of Normandy, theoretically owed his loyalty to the King of France.

Agree with another pp that the Normans were pretty much Vikings - the name derives from Norse Men.

My pet theory is that William invaded England because he thought that William the Conqueror would be a cooler nickname than William the Bastard which is what he was known as at the time.

Here is the flag of the Duchy of Normandy. Look familiar ?

You could apply that rationale to any demographic group who broadly subscribe to a single political narrative touted by social media or news journalism.

I see the third Lion is on a tea-break........

My pet theory is that William invaded England because he thought that William the Conqueror would be a cooler nickname than William the Bastard which is what he was known as at the time.

Personally I think it's possible to overthink these things. He invaded England because he genuinely thought it was his by right. Anything else was just happenstance.

This was an age of "if this, then that". So his victory was taken as a sign from God that he was destined to be King of England. Despite being a real bastard.

Very.
3rd lion added (cheated and googled because I couldn't remember which king it was) by Henry II after he married Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Ironic that it was popularised by Richard the Lionheart who spoke very little English and spent virtually all of his reign abroad.

@SerendipityJane "This was an age of "if this, then that". So his victory was taken as a sign from God that he was destined to be King of England. Despite being a real bastard."

Indeed, his "Harrying of the North" proved that.😭

btw, If anyone is genuine interested in the derailing of this thread by the discussion of the Norman Conquest, there was an excellent series about it on The Rest Is History Podcast a few months ago.

PS my comment about William invading to get a better nickname was tongue in cheek. I like the idea but know that wouldn't have been the real reason.

You can't get more English than that 😀

More facts. This thread is going to be a pig to clean up.

@PrettyParrotyou really said that?? 🫣😭

Not necessarily. The women's Rugby World Cup started on Friday.

This is very interesting. I live in a small, multi-cultural town and work in a large multi-cultural town and haven't see a single vandalised roundabout or St George's being flown other than on buildings where they're flown all year round. Where in the country have all these flags popped up?

The George Cross was appropriated by racists back in the Olden Days (1970s and 1980s). Skinhead pubs were festooned with them and my Black and Asian friends couldn’t go in for fear of being beaten up or worse. The Union Flag was too but the Spice Girls, Britpop and various designers got it back for us, which was nice. The George Cross hasn’t been reclaimed and people pretending it’s not a LOT of racists flying it (since the 1970s FGS) are either liars or live in the Cotswolds having never been to South London and only see flags on pretty rural churches.

I’d love to get the flag back. But pretending it wasn’t used extensively by racists is disingenuous. If I knew at 18 (15 really) that pubs flying it were NF/BNP hellholes, then I find it hard to believe that 30 years later everyone else missed that.