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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Union Flag

233 replies

LowlandLucky · 09/04/2021 16:58

For once i am shocked into silence, just read that there are calls for Morrisons supermarket to be boycotted because the have products in Union flag packaging. It would seem somewimps people are so pathetic that the feel "intimidated" by our countries flag. FFS what a bloody feeble nation Britain has become, it is not as though we wrap goods in a Swastika. If the Union flag is so scary bugger off and live somewhere else, just make sure their flag is not a naughty one.

OP posts:
Original poster
LowlandLucky · 09/04/2021 20:08

pourqoumoi I was born and currently live in Scotland, there are plenty here that do not see any negative connotations. I have lived in all 4 nations of the U.K, even when i lived in Ulster the sight of the Irish Tricolor didn't insult me or intimidate me even though it was often flown by people that would be happy to stick a bomb under my car.

OP posts:
pourqouimoi · 09/04/2021 20:10

@lowandlucky

Be that as it may, many people do find it distasteful, including myself. I am Scottish. Regarding Ireland/NI - plenty living in both those countries have good reason to dislike the union jack...

pourqouimoi · 09/04/2021 20:11

Clearly, it has different associations for different people.

RampantIvy · 09/04/2021 20:12

@Stompythedinosaur

It really depends on the association the flag has for you. I'm aware for many people it is a positive symbol, but in mainly reminds me of racists and our shameful colonial past.

The things I am proud of the UK for aren't really represented by that flag imo.

We can't change the past, but we can move forward, accept that there were many shameful things in the past, and not make the same mistakes again. Should we change the flag design then?
mustlovegin · 09/04/2021 20:12

It's ridiculous to want to boycott your own country

pourqouimoi · 09/04/2021 20:12

I mean, I'm not upset by seeing the union jack, it just has negative associations for me and - in my opinion/perception - the people who go out of their way to wave it are people with whom I tend not to share common political ground.

orangecinnamon · 09/04/2021 20:15

@LowlandLucky

pourqoumoi I was born and currently live in Scotland, there are plenty here that do not see any negative connotations. I have lived in all 4 nations of the U.K, even when i lived in Ulster the sight of the Irish Tricolor didn't insult me or intimidate me even though it was often flown by people that would be happy to stick a bomb under my car.
Why are you choosing to ignore those who are telling you this is a none story or at least a story blown out of proportion. Do you believe everything you read in the papers?

Perhaps you want to be particularly goady ?

AlwaysLatte · 09/04/2021 20:16

Well you're not shocked into silence because you've just started a thread about it, but if flags are not displayed then we can just read the country of origin on the packaging, right?

RoseAndRose · 09/04/2021 20:20

I like to buy British, and am always glad when labelling makes it easy (assuming they're not weaselling)

Even more important post-covid, I think, as part of rebuilding the economy.

I'd also buy if flags or logos of the home nations (and Channel Islands & Isle of Mann) were used. But Union Flag is good if you have multiple suppliers

mustlovegin · 09/04/2021 20:22

i am saddened that British people have no respect for their own country

OP, perhaps most people tweeting like this are not British

pourqouimoi · 09/04/2021 20:22

Just to add I obviously don't "boycott" produce just because it has a union flag on it, whether or not that flag is distasteful to me in some contexts.

RunHobbitRun · 09/04/2021 20:27

The Union Flag is a constant reminder to the Welsh that as a nation we are unimportant to the other countries in the "Union". There isn't representation of Wales in there in any form.And fuck off with Wales being a principality, it is internationally recognised as a country by NATO

Given there's the option of St David's cross or the Dragon which could easily be included the contuing exclusion of Welsh representation means I'll never consider the Union Flag to be "mine"

Other countries have updated their flags to represent better the people that live beneath the flag so there are literally no excuses beyond Imperialist jingoism to not update ours.

I'd love to know which country I should fuck off to live in having been an inhabitant of the UK well Wales and England all my life? I quite fancy Canada...will you pay my family's relocation costs?

LemonRoses · 09/04/2021 20:30

I've never seen bananas with a Union Flag sticker. I can't really comment on carrots as I buy them loose but again I rather doubt that there are Spanish carrots with British branding.

Union Flag
RunHobbitRun · 09/04/2021 20:30

My rant about how much I loath the Union Flag aside...I'll always buy if an item is clearly labelled as being from one of the home nations (and I need it) because I prefer to support businesses as local to me as possible. If that means it's from somewhere in the Union that's still preferable to being from Spain/Thailand/USA etc

LemonRoses · 09/04/2021 20:35

Not just carrots and bananas either. A bit sad to claim Irish produce as British with a union flag, particularly given damage caused to NI.

Union Flag
LemonRoses · 09/04/2021 20:36

Those British carrots

Union Flag
XDownwiththissortofthingX · 09/04/2021 20:40

Not just carrots and bananas either. A bit sad to claim Irish produce as British with a union flag, particularly given damage caused to NI

This is one of the main reasons why this has a lot of people's backs up. Goods that were previously exported and sold with a Saltire are, thanks to the Westminster government, now being packaged with a union flag. Aside from the fact that it is dismantling the brand identity that the producers have worked to build up, it's yet another in a multitude of small micro-aggressions that make people living in certain parts of the UK feel like their identities are slowly being eroded and erased by politicians that they do not elect.

Tommika · 09/04/2021 20:41

@LemonRoses

Those British carrots
Old news - wrong labelling printed on a batch of bags

British carrots with Spain printed on the bag in error

PMcGintysGoat · 09/04/2021 20:51

Possibly the issue for some people is the fact that the relatively new enthusiasm for the union flag coincided with brexit, and the union flag is by some used as a brexit symbol. However only one of the countries represented by the flag voted to leave the EU, possibly (probably?) being the trigger for the breakup of the UK.

I find it beyond ironic that brexit will probably cause the breakup of the UK union, and yet it's symbol is a flag which combines the northern irish, scottish and english flags. I wonder how many flag enthusiasts understand that the diagonal stripes, and blue colours come from NI and Scotland?

Too often it feels like British means 'England-And-Those-She-Colonised', it doesn't feel like a union of equals. The adoption of the union flag by English separatists doesn't dispel this sensation.

Regarding the union flags on food products, the issue is compounded by the fact that previously products weren't just unbadged, but often had the individual producer's nation flag displayed. If the union flag is now being used to reduce the identity of the nations then I think that's very sad. It seems that before brexit we just about enough confidence in the union to allow the individual nations their own national identity, whereas now it seems the union is so weak that this can't be supported.

SunIsComing · 09/04/2021 21:08

There are some absolute tossers out there

BiBabbles · 09/04/2021 21:44

Is it just me, or does that bag of British bananas say 'sweet and crunchy'? I'm kinda concerned what British banana mutation has been made to make bananas crunchy.

I've never been intimidated by the flag - it's a pattern of colours. I have been intimidated by some people carrying the flag. I have also been very happy for other people carrying the flag. It's all been in what's being done with it. In a store, it's a bit of marketing and information.

If people want to not buy things because of a flag, fine, people can do as they wish with their money, though I doubt Morrison is going to care as much about this as the OP seems to. There isn't really much of a collective objective to feel like it's a boycott, but it's their money.

Original poster
LowlandLucky · 09/04/2021 22:10

mustlovegin It may not be there own country but it is the country they choose to live in.

OP posts:
LexMitior · 09/04/2021 22:23

@BiBabbles

Is it just me, or does that bag of British bananas say 'sweet and crunchy'? I'm kinda concerned what British banana mutation has been made to make bananas crunchy.

I've never been intimidated by the flag - it's a pattern of colours. I have been intimidated by some people carrying the flag. I have also been very happy for other people carrying the flag. It's all been in what's being done with it. In a store, it's a bit of marketing and information.

If people want to not buy things because of a flag, fine, people can do as they wish with their money, though I doubt Morrison is going to care as much about this as the OP seems to. There isn't really much of a collective objective to feel like it's a boycott, but it's their money.

Yuk. Sweet and crunchy means unripe bananas. Seriously, those bags are ridiculous. Are they after some crazed loon who previously had a hard time that bananas aren't British?

I assume a mistake by someone who is short on brains. But putting the union jack on food is not new for lots of other foodstuffs. It is not always what it means. For example, a lot of "British beef" is Irish, but it gets moved to Britain and then could be sold as such. Money is money in the end!

unexpectedthird · 09/04/2021 22:37

Look, everyone getting worked up by flags is ignoring the most important part of this whole (non) event.

Is it, or is it not, actually possible to grow bananas here and if so how do I do it? I've always wanted to have a go but believed that it would be a disaster. What do yoy think I'd need? I'm assuming a bit more than a standard polytunnel.🤔

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