AIBU to ask about this whole ‘painting flags on roundabouts’ thing?

[Ticktockk]

England flags have appeared all over my nice town, painted on to the mini roundabouts. What kind of a ‘thing’ is this? Is it a Reform thing, a football thing or a ‘proud to be English’ thing?
If it’s a reform thing, WIBU to go down and add “England welcomes you to our country” to all the red crosses?

We haven't got any round here (that I'm aware of) so all of this had passed me by until I saw the posts here on MN about the subject.

I like living in Britain, and I like being British. We have our problems right now and undoubtedly we have our national nobheads (understatement of the year), but overall I think it's a decent place to live. I'm not ashamed of my nationality.

With all that in mind, it should be a matter of pride to see our national flag (even if I don't actually want to fly it in my garden).

But wankers like Tommy Robinson et al have taken that away by misappropriating it for hate-filled reasons.

If I see St George's cross flying, I do immediately think of xenophobic, racist views. And it's such a shame that's the association now - but that's what it's become to many.

The only tiny exception when it doesn't suggest racism is during the world cup - until England is inevitably knocked out and all the flags disappear.

The fact that Robinson and his mates are behind this latest fad of painting the flag tells you everything you need to know about what it is, and what it isn't.

It's not to give people a warm and fuzzy feeling, it's an unspoken message of hate, racism, and just a general fuck you to anyone who isn't English and white.

People denying this is the case KNOW exactly what it is, but they like it so continue with the faux innocence.

I think you're putting too much emphasis on the origin and not nearly enough on whats happened subsequently. If there was no underlying strength of feeling nationally, Tommy Robinson's mate would have flown a few flags and nobody would have cared and it wouldn't be a major talking point right now. Nothing would have happened and nobody would have known about it. The fact is, lots of people identified with it and lots of people have taken actions to support it which should give you an idea of the mood of the nation.

It's interesting that you see this as completely spontaneous and not something whipped up by the far right, Farage, social media, the government and the right wing press.

A recent poll found that the majority of people think most immigrants in the UK are 'illegal' when it's a small minority. That gives you an indication of how much focus there has been on 'illegal immigration' as opposed to anything else.

There are women wrapped in flags, holding up signs saying 'save our kids', protesting with the far right. Many of whom have convictions for VAWAG.

Exactly. Only 4% of immigrants last year came on the dreaded small boats.
Although the figure should be lower, farage and co manage to convince everyone that all immigration is illegal and unwarranted

Is that interesting to you? That's nice dear. Anything else?

Agreed. We xould do with some form of the french laicite that bans all this crap the GC included

Start with work. I dont want your "authentic self" i want the you thar gets the job done"

Exactly what? I know what the question was in the poll that the PP is referencing. It asked if people thought that immigration is currently too high, and the majority said yes. The additional context is a left leaning organisation doing the "AKSHULLY..." thing and increasingly desperate leftists latching onto it as if it helps their cause.

Absolutely there's strength of feeling in some quarters, but many people are being whipped up into a xenophobic frenzy because of how it's being reported. Facts really do matter but we see very little of that and mainly just sensationalist headlines. And I'd level that accusation on both "sides" in the media, both left and right.

Of course, not everyone falls into this category, obviously. There are also your regular racists who are thoroughly enjoying the current era where it's become socially acceptable to spout really unpleasant views. We always copy the US, and Trump-style politics has made its way over here. That coupled with Robinson and his mates whispering venom, plus of course Farage has played his part - the end result is a bubbling cauldron of bile.

We know there's a problem with immigration, primarily due to the number of asylum applications that are pending, and the things that the lawyers can do to extend the appeal time. The system is in dire need of an overhaul and for efficiencies to be put in place as it's not currently fit for purpose. You don't need to be racist to recognise things aren't working.

But all of that is a very long way from the people rioting outside hotels and creating an atmosphere of fear.

That is absolutely being fed by the media, and by bad faith actors. In many cases people don't even realise they're being whipped up and manipulated. Or sometimes they do, but it suits their underlying views of xenophobia and racism.

No you don't give your head a wobble 🤣🤣🤣

YABU for starting yet another thread on flags

It's mainly in Next. They have a Hamish collection, I bought a cow bath mat for in the bath

It’s just vandalism.

If it was a general mood the flags would have appeared organically over a period of time. It's been a concerted effort by racist lowlife with support from people who get their facts from Facebook and Twitter. There is no disguising the underlying nob-headed reasons. It's not a joyous, celebration of British/English culture, it's nasty, thuggish, ignorant racism.

Lovely.

Only 4% of immigrants were caught trying to enter the country on small boats. Not everyone is caught and they enter the country illegally then work under the radar, usually in places such as hand car washes, barbers etc.

This is GOLD!

no misogynistic crap

Ok, you think there's an absence of facts and sensationalist headlines are behind all of this. That's not my reading of it though, and I suppose we're talking about personal experiences which can't really be proven or falsified.

My experience is that where I live, there are now at least 3 hotels filled with mainly men and negative interactions between locals and migrants have increased as the number of migrants has increased. For the most part these are not incidents which are reported on at all so there's no sensationalism or media frenzy, just people getting angry about what's happening in their town and what they and their children are now expected to put up with. The incidents that were serious enough to make the news, for example a migrant arrested and charged for sexually assaulting multiple women in the street in broad daylight, were reported in a matter-of-fact way in the covering that I'm aware of.

It’s back to the national front marches of the 80’s isn’t it.
only Farage has made it ok to say this shit and the internet has made it easier to meet each other.

"Patriotism, the last refuge of the scoundrel".

I’d rather have the St George’s flags than that, that is much more unsettling.

This.

I very much doubt the paint they are using is actually going to stick beyond a week or 2. I doubt they are using paint suitable for external surfaces where traffic goes ( its expensive) B&Q will soon sell out of red emulsion. Councils would do best to ignore, first bit of rain will do the job for them and not waste precious funds.

me too, I thought the council/ highways had earmarked them for repairs.