To be devasted the roundabout in my town has a crappy 'flag' painted on?

[Liesmorelies]

I nearly threw up when I saw it this morning - what a horrible shock.

It's a very small town in the Midlands near a city. Yes it's ex-mining but does reasonable ok now, not deprived eg no contextual offers for my dc for uni, but not massively desirable or trendy. Has a Labour MP now but hasn't always in recent years. Voted for Brexit but only just. In 2019 more people voted against Tories AND Brexit than for them - split the vote so we still got a Tory, but still.

In other words, I did not expect this. It's horrible - looks ugly and badly done even before you get started on the thinking behind it. AIBU to ring the council on Tuesday and ask when they are going to deal with this vandalism?

I did a four hour round-trip on the motorway today too and the amount of flags on bridges was shocking - just make it stop.

I object to paying for illegal immigrants to stay in hotels.

You'll be delighted to learn that you're not paying for illegal immigrants to stay in hotels, because that's not a thing that's happening. Illegal immigrants are housed in detention centers or prisons until they're deported.

But you'd know that if you'd taken 30 seconds of your time to actually learn about the issue before forming an opinion based purely on ignorance.

Did you throw up OP? Such dramatics.

I do not condone people painting the George on roundabouts, I do not condone any graffiti of property for any reason.

We have ended up with a problem around flags as it appears to be acceptable to put up certain flags - we either have have a situation where either no flags can be put up or all flags can be ( other than those which are banned). On private land people can put up whatever flags they like as long as they are not banned.

i think people are fed up with the double standards and feel helpless.

Of course I don't hate English people. I do hate the kind of whining that's displayed on here though - why can't we fly our flag, what about Ukraine, Palestine, LGBT, BLM etc etc - oppressed groups of people that English people, living in England as the majority group, seek to draw parallels with - it's ridiculous. It's like the immigrants, sorry - ex-pats, living in Spain moaning about all the foreigners that live in the UK now.

So you don't relate to pride but you're devastated by people who appear to feel pride?
I'm not out with a spray can but I read the news and can see there are many people with concerns trying to find a way to raise their voices.
This (economic migration in high numbers vs. UK rules & culture) isn't a straight forward issue to address, but devastation is normally held for situations where people are sick or injured.

UANBU. They have put them up on lampposts in one of the parks here and I just think it’s really unfair to expect children to play in that kind of atmosphere. They shouldn’t be politicising children’s play spaces. I’m probably going to complain to the local councillors. Parks should be a welcoming place for children so all heritages. I’m white British and I don’t feel comfortable having to take my kid to play in an atmosphere like that. I’m really disgusted with this new public enthusiasm for racist ideology. People had Brexit, it didn’t work because it was just about shorting stocks for the elite, and now people wan’t Nigel Farage, and Tommy Robinson to sell the more snake oil.

I don’t even care at this point about the ‘don’t call me a racist for spouting racist ideology brigade’ with their closed Facebook groups. You are what you are. (You can change and be a decent human but it’s not up to me and everyone else to pander to you and baby you)

No, I didn't throw up. That's why I used the word nearly, hyperbolically, yes. But I do find the fact that orchestrated racism is on display pretty nauseating and I make no apology for the fact. I'm glad people here find it so funny/trivial/inspirational/whatever. I don't.

Other countries actually have pride in their flags and wouldn't dream of hurriedly painting a vague representation of their flag on a public road to be driven over.
They fly their flags (bought from national stockists) on their own properties.
The French world be embarrassed to show an imperfect tricolour.

It's just a flag. I'm a bit jealous of Bhutan though.

Oh dear OP. Have you thought about moving abroad?

Good thing you’re British. Were you American, you’d have discorporated long ago.

Seriously, though, something like this isn’t a thing that affects you unless you ALLOW it to. It’s not like someone is on your doorstep slapping you in the face with a tiny flag every time you answer the door. Just let it go.

They want us to be like the US with flags hung outside our homes and children pledging allegiance in school. But yeah as soon as it starts pissing it down for months it will look shit.

Wow the faux patriotism on here is astounding.

“it’s just a flag” 🤪

No. It’s a coordinated right wing campaign.

Easy for you to say as Welsh isn't it? You can fly the flag no problem. P.S maybe read through your posts. You give off an anti English vibe.

We are aware George isn't English. Neither was St Patrick Irish. The original saint is St Edmund and maybe he should be reinstated.

Oh, let me explain. I'm proud of my ancestors who were working class and were part of the proud millworkers and servants (amongst others) who built this country. In my opinion we are living in the ruins of a great civilisation built by Christianity. Alot of the values we still have are based on Chrisianity (equality etc) still but we have become lazy, weak and immoral and our civilisation is crumbling while we get alot poorer. We have had terrible leadership for the past 25 + years which has exacerbated this. Hope this helps.

This is the issue...it's middle classes enjoying feeling morally superior whislt not experiencing the other side of the coin.
Well if your getting called thick by your fellow countrymen and demonised/patronised/'othered'
Someone could feel pushed into a corner.

This is a class issue.

Middle classes over this time period have largely exsisted in a new economy that has left others behind and gathering debt.
The decline in manufacturing and highstreet, the zero hours contracts. Food poverty , fuel poverty. Wages stagnating.
All real things that affect people.

But those unwilling to look just want to conviently make it about 'good and bad'
And your creating and living out the same dynamic as racists, your condemning , , one set of the population and being pious.

Phenomenal level of pearl clutching. 😂

The whole area surrounding us has them now.
If not for the likely extreme opinions of the people painting them then I would quite like it. I think the average British person isn't very patriotic at all in recent generations and it would be nice if there was more of a community feeling of love for the country, more flags in general areas etc. The fact that children often learn about the union jack from school rather than just their environment is sad.

However, the actual reasoning for this change seems to be tarnishing the flag rather than being a positive societal change which is a shame.

devastation is normally held for situations where people are sick or injured.

No, devastation can be felt in all kinds of circumstances. I am devastated that a country once celebrated for its tolerance, rejection of jingoism and superficial displays of forced patriotism has sunk to such a low. The badly drawn crosses clumsily spray-painted onto mini-roundabouts of all things seem to sum up how low we have sunk over the last decade. Where is the dignity and pride in those? I am devastated about that because I want better for this country. Perhaps I am more patriotic than I thought.

I doubt very much that we’ll see them where I live, but I’ve said to DH if any flags start going up on the lampposts here I’m taking them down.

It’s not a jubilee, coronation or a major sporting event. It’s territory marking by racists.

I remember when the Olympics were on London and there were union jacks everywhere. I loved it, the feeling of being behind your country and being proud of what we had achieved was amazing. This has a very different feeling to it.

Nothing wrong with patriotism at all. Put the flags up- I haven’t spoken to a single person who is offended at this. However, what is happening now is not patriotism- as many have said it is a tactic to intimidate all non-white people, to let them know you are not happy they are there. Any one defending this is misguided at best.

Exactly right. Palestinian flags and trans flags absolutely bloody everywhere, and no one bats an eyelid.