What's With the Flags

[projuicehealth]

It seems every minister who is interviewed on TV has a Union Jack flag in the background.
AIBU to think there is something a little more sinister to this than a sign of being patriotic? I wonder and worry about subliminal brain washing / hypnosis.
I'm concerned that all ministers are going along with it, are they afraid not to?
Johnson did very well keep repeating the mantra "Get Brexit Done" without much substance of how, why or implications.
I wonder if there is more concern about the break up of the United Kingdom in the government and the flags are a visual symbol of our unity, real or imagined.

Divisive bull is what it is.
Tying to stir up "patriotism" with a bit of cloth to detract from the fact that most of them are incapable of doing a job properly.
Look at the flag, don't question our failings as a government.
Don't like the flag? Then you must be reminded that without Churchill we'd all be speaking German.

At least, that is the mindset I have encountered.

Flag shaggers .

Seriously though, all Tory ministers are under strick instructions to have the British flag on prominent display. It's meant to be a subconscious allusion to to 'Unity after Brexit'. Of course, it's been as subtle as a brick to the face and now the UK is yet again the butt of every joke.

There is a real concern about a second Scottish referendum after the way Johnson and Co dealt with Covid and the Brexit deal, and Wales are making more noises than ever as well (though personally, I find that much less likely).

I can’t get too worried about this, it seems to be something all politicians across the political spectrum do - anytime I see Joe Biden, Narendra Modi, Emmanuel Macron, Justin Trudeau etc. giving an official briefing I see their country flags in the background

Flag shaggers everywhere in Glasgow these days 😁 lots of food in the shops with the union flag plastered over them too. Who knows what's happening!

I can’t say it bothers me one way or the other. It’s a very English thing to sneer at the flag, especially the St George.
Other nationalities wherever don’t seem to have a problem with their own, whether they’ve had an empire to breast-beat about, or not.

@lurker101

I can’t get too worried about this, it seems to be something all politicians across the political spectrum do - anytime I see Joe Biden, Narendra Modi, Emmanuel Macron, Justin Trudeau etc. giving an official briefing I see their country flags in the background

There's a difference between flags behind the leader of a country making a national address, and the local MP for Nowhereshire South's bookcase decorated like it's a jubilee. Then the same MPs making ridiculous 'if you don't like it, then leave the country' comments when asked about it.

It's silly, and actually harmful. It's going to lead to the same bad feeling about the Union Jack that has been wrongly put on the St George - people associating it with right wing nutters rather than a nice visual representation of your country.

It's hideous. I don't believe for a moment that the MPs themselves are personally patriotic. It's about chasing cheap populism a la Trump,and Johnson's vast ego.

I find it quite sinister and it reminds me of Nazi Germany.

The independence movement in Wales has grown so much over the last year or so, forcing the Union Jack on people will coontribute to this change.

So when Drakeford/Sturgeon/Macron/Merkel/Martin/Biden/Von der Leyern have a flag in the background no one bats an eyelid, it's perfectly normal, yet when British ministers do the same they're apparently "sinister" "flag-shaggers". Double standards?

And it only took 20 minutes for someone to make a comparison with Nazi Germany. There goes Godwin's Law!

@DdraigGoch, again it's not the same thing. Let's not pretend that MPs giving Zoom interviews with the UJ prominently displayed behind them is typical, or not an attempt at a 'we all love being British DONT WE' ideology. If it's something and nothing, why are the BBC and their journalists finding themselves in trouble over not follow suit/questioning it in general?

There is new guidance on flying flags every day on government buildings.

www.gov.uk/government/news/union-flag-to-be-flown-on-uk-government-buildings-every-day

"There's a difference between flags behind the leader of a country making a national address, and the local MP for Nowhereshire South's bookcase decorated like it's a jubilee. Then the same MPs making ridiculous 'if you don't like it, then leave the country' comments when asked about it. "

This sums it up for me.

Don't mind a bit of flag waving at all but massive flags in the back of general/home offices just look daft.

We know where we live and having a flag doesn't make you more patriotic than a non flagged office.

(Just as an aside, that doesn’t affect the MP from Northamptonshire being interviewed about the new town hall etc.)

I would like to see the union flag flown on every government and council building in Scotland on a daily basis. It’s perfectly normal in countries like France.
I am fed up with the SNP acting as though Scotland is already a foreign republic, flying EU flags ffs, and grudgingly allowing the union jack one day a year, on Remembrance Day.
The union flag is a symbol of unity, containing as it does the flags of England (which includes the incorporated principality of Wales), Scotland and Northern Ireland.
We need it more than ever in these times of destructive separatists like Sturgeon trying to tear our country and families apart.

Other countries do this all the time, I don't see the problem. Go to the US or France and you will see their flags everywhere. The EU can't do a press conference without their flag prominently on display. Scotland has the Saltire waving just about everywhere.

Funny how when the EU or Scotland do it, it's patriotism and a call for unity, but when the Union Flag is shown it is brainwashing or racist.

Come to northern ireland. Bloody flags everywhere

The union flag is a symbol of unity, containing as it does the flags of England (which includes the incorporated principality of Wales)

Wales is a country, please don't be so rude. Bad enough we don't get representation on your 'British' flag.

@brumboo thanks I had a spectacular case of missing the point - missed the bit about random politicians, thought this was relating to BoJo’s new podium 😂

They’re trying to convince us that the UK is a fab country to be proud of, when actually it’s the shit-end of nowhere after Brexit.

I assume it's to hide the cluttered bit of trashy Jilly Cooper novels on their carefully staged bookshelves.

I think it’s a sign of how vulnerable the union is and how divided we are as a country.

Nothing says confidence like enforced flag waving. Lol.

I swear I don’t recognise this country anymore.

Shouldn't flags be more of an outdoors pursuit? Flapping around a bit?

Nobody should have to hide Jilly Cooper.

@lurker101, I personally don't give a toss about Johnson and Co doing so in addresses, in fact I think it gives the address a sense of extra importance - 'this is your government addressing you, a nation'. Sticking the UJ behind every MP, councilor, anyone discussing politics is just regressing it's sense of importance.

Not too fond of the St George flag being flown due to unfortunate nationalist connotations.
Don't mind reasonable use of the Union flag, we still are a Union at present.

Have no wish to emulate the OTT flag waving seen in America. Perhaps the best indicator of the American mentality.