What do you think of the flags?

[Latesummersunset]

Apologies if this has been done already.

I live in one of the areas where the flags were started. We couldn’t understand what they were for until it popped up in the news. Apparently the councils are going to be taking them down.

I don’t really have much of an opinion either way but my concern is that they’ll soon become tatty, fall down and leave a mess everywhere. But it seems lots of people are loving them. They do look quite cheery at the moment.

What do people think?

Yabu - they are a mess/racist/health and safety hazard

Yanbu - they are cheerful and patriotic. Keep them

Just so we’re all on the same page… this is a completely reasonable thing to say, and is in no way representative of saying anything racist or criminal. Apparently.

What about throwing rocks through car windows because they’ve got brown people in?

We can all whataboutery 😂

If only you cared so much about how distressed Jews have been for the past 18 months.

No comment on the oppression of Jews?

If someone set a hotel full of Jews on fire, or encouraged others to do so, I’d also think that was fully dickhead behaviour.

HTH.

No it doesn't help, actually. Try applying consistency in your outage of the impact of flags flying. That would be far more helpful.

Why do you only care about one minority group out of interest? You pop up on all anti-immigration threads, support the phrase ‘race card’ etc. Why not care about antisemitism and also other forms of prejudice and racism, like most decent people?

The racists have ruined our flag. The blame lies with them alone.

One group is under-represented and shit on by all quarters. Most decent people, as you say, would include antisemitism as being part of a big problem. Apologies if I highlight that plight.

Oh, well it should help.

Some people don’t approve of any thugs, racists or persecution. Equally.

Better tell Birmingham City Council and the government that.

Off to walk the hounds.

✨ I don’t live in Birmingham, their council isn’t my business ✨

I see it as a reaction to the anti white, anti British attitude and the two tier justice system that's come into play and I'm all for it.

I am glad you highlight that plight. I support you on that. It’s a shame that you don’t support victims of other forms of racial prejudice though, that’s all. Indeed I wonder about the opposite. You can oppose antisemitism but also abhor other forms of racism you know; it’s not mutually exclusive.

If someone wants a flag they can put a flagpole up in their garden etc. Leave lamp posts, mini roundabouts and other public property and places, alone.

Yes, it's a shame that the name of England's patron saint is used by a neo-fascist organisation (the League of St George) and that therefore the flag has unpleasant connotations. Hence why so many EDL (including "Tommy Robinson") have tattoos of it.

You only have to look at the flags waved at any far-right march to see how people feel uneasy about it. At least the National Front of the 70's-80's carried the Union flag, so the whole country could feel ashamed of it.

I agree.

I thought the "butcher's flag" was the Union flag. It makes more sense, blue and white being the colour of a butcher's apron and red being the blood thereon.

People will be putting up flags for slightly different reasons; some will be wanting to enjoy a bit of patriotism, others will be expressing anger related to immigration etc. It seems to me that the latter are getting angrier because they don’t think their concerns are being heard or addressed so taking the flags down will just wind them up further. Dismissing this comes over as patronising.

I suppose you could say that showing the national flags is a way of asserting that people willing to integrate are more welcome than those unwilling to do so.
Overall, I like the visual expression of how citizens are feeling and it means politicians can’t ignore this.

We don't have ay flags up in the area I live in, probably get taken down if it was attempted. I know I'm British so don't need a flag on lampposts to remind me.

Flags are certainly better than riots.

It's not all citizens though is it? I was born in England as were my parents as were my Grandparents as were three of my Great Grandparents, in fact on one side I can trace my English roots back to 1550 but I do have one Great Grandparent born in A Scandinavian country- 😱 is this the reason for my indifference to the flags on lampposts?!

The whole point of this 'flag-flying' is to intimidate people into thinking that the far right are bigger than they are. Don't let's pretend it's anything else but flying a flag for racism.
And maybe have a look at the videos from Leeds and Falkirk last weekend where these 'patriots protecting women' get into women's faces and threaten them with rape and sexual assault for having the nerve to be anti-racist.

There’s none here either. Can’t imagine they’d be up for long if they were put up.

Middlesbrough (where I grew up) was quite badly affected by the rioting idiots last year - all tidied up the very next day by the community.

People generally don’t buy into the nonsense, fortunately.

It's precisely because some people use it as a protest against immigration that it's become linked with the racist and xenophobic far right, rather than patriotism.