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.

You sound incredibly xenophobic, OP. Why do you live here if you hate the English flag so much?

Love the bunting and flags.
We admired them in 2019 flying all over beautiful English and Welsh streets in Summer.
Also saw a magnificent St Andrews flag painted on an old stone building door in remote Dundonnell.
Flags have been used for hundreds of years to promote solidarity, pride and celebration and love for one's people.
My family have had flagpoles in their gardens for decades.

I can see how flying one's flag in a foreign land might be rude or political but I have not seen that. Flying the flag of the nation in public places is unifying. Every citizen can feel welcome.

I’m embarrassed to be Welsh right now 🤦‍♀️

We fly our flag at every opportunity and have always done so without being called racist but you move to England then stereotype a whole country as always playing the victim and moan about the English flag?

England has always been targeted for displaying their flag, this isn’t a new problem and maybe if people hadn’t made such a big deal of it over the years they could fly them with no problem and there wouldn’t be such drama over it. English people have made this problem for themselves by deciding whoever puts up a flag is racist, we don’t have this issue anywhere else in the UK.

On a side note painting a dragon on a roundabout is much more difficult so we might have to use the flag of Saint David on our roundabouts so if you come to Wales and see a black and yellow roundabout that’s why. There’s also been a huge increase in Welsh flags over bridges etc but no one would care about that, it’s just a white flag with a Red Cross that winds people up for some reason.

Is it? or is it encouraging people to take pride in being British, sparked after the lass in a spice girls style union jack dress was prevented by her school on giving a talk about being British. We should be proud of our country not constantly knocking it.

I think the flags are wonderful, and I hope this country retrieves its national pride and dignity.

The original reason for the flags can be read on here:

www.theguardian.com/education/2025/jul/15/girl-union-flag-dress-school-culture-day-rugby

If the support for a little girl wanting to talk about her own country at school ‘devastates’ you op then may I suggest an appointment with the GP today, and an urgent referral to talking therapies.

And this is exactly the outcome they're after.

People were encouraged by racists to start putting flags up because it upset immigrants and the government were against it.

It becomes a trend that well meaning people follow.

Now any criticism of the original intention is seen as a criticism of the flag.

Imagine falling for that!

By a single teacher, not the school, who quickly (before it got into the press) apologized for the teacher's mistake and tried to rearrange her speech.

A single mistake, that was then jumped on by Tiny Tommy Robinson and co as some kind of ban against being proud to be British incase it upset people.

It got some hard of thinking people quite upset though, to be fair.

Or let’s not be so cynical and see the flag flying as support for a little girl in Rugby, which is factually correct and recognise people want to feel pride for their country and values. Maybe this nation are really sick to the back teeth of being forced to feel shame inflicted on them by people like you.

We can love and value our country. We can decide to celebrate our Englishness without a barrage of name calling and faux outrage. You do realise we are a country of many different backgrounds and all of them can feel patriotic! Stop corrupting everything for your own political agenda. It’s sickening.

He also slayed a dragon! It must be all true.

Presuming you mean the Catalan flag, it tends to be painted on properly/artistically, not slapped down in a wonky manner. When there is graffiti there, it tends to be cleaned pretty quick. Flying the Catalan flag is about independence and pride - not about keeping people out and hasn't been linked to the mass tourism demonstrations over the last couple of years. It isn't about keeping out and nor is flying the Spanish flag.

As an ex army town, my town has many St George's Cross flying and always has. But the latest trend to deface walls and roundabouts with them, not to mention to hang them everywhere isn't due to patriotism - it's a response to the perceived threat of so called 'boat people' and is routed in fear and xenophobic rhetoric.

I wish there had been a trend towards flying flags sooner rather than it being linked to immigration. I keep seeing people writing on social media that the immigrants don't want us to fly our flags. What proof is there of that? I've never heard a single immigrant say that. It's the same as Muslims allegedly trying to ban nativity plays. Try telling that to the many Muslims taking part in my children's school nativity plays. It's fake news!

YANBU but you lost me at “I voted brexit”. 🙄

It is actually disgusting what happened to that child at her school, and highlights the deep rooted issues we face in this country. This Labour inspired self hatred and cultural conflagration on a national scale has really got to stop. I think millions of people have truly had enough of it.

This!!

I've only read page one of this thread and I can't believe how many jingoistic wankers are on the thread already.

@Liesmorelies no - YANBU it's a bloody disgrace.

I thought St George day was in April

I blame the Online Safety Act. This is what happens when you make it too difficult for men to access porn. They get frustrated and blindly flail around for a new hobby. Some turn to cycling, the lower IQ types turn to flag shagging.

You clearly hate your flag. You disgust me.

Oh the irony that you call a flag tacky with the insidious language you both use!

For those who say it is an overreaction to feel like throwing up, I do understand. When this is done on public property, it is saying that we all agree with the (racist) )sentiment behind it. It seems it is being done in my name. And I am angry and sickened, as it is most certainly not in my name, and, it seems, not in the name of many people. It makes us feel powerless. If it is on a private property eg someone attaching a flag to their own house, then I know how that individual feels, which is more tolerable. And we also know it will take time for those crappy racist roundabouts to be repainted; meanwhile I have to drive round them for weeks and weeks, feeling misrepresented, and - yes- angry.
I keep trying to think of ways to subvert it all. I may just go and slash some flags on some bridges, and see how long it takes the patriots to come and take the shoddy things down. Or is the act of patriotism just in the putting up of the flags? (Inevitably, the flags will get tatty anyway - by then the right-wingers will have probably moved on and the flags will be left to look miserable for ever and a day.)
Any subversive and doable ideas, anyone?

You're DEVASTATED? Get a grip!
This has to be a wind up!
Ffs!

I think there are two sides to this. The flag has definitely been co-opted by some on the far right. At the same time, I think some people feel frustrated by what they see as constant criticism of our country, and they push back against that. Overall, it makes me sad that we feel so divided as a nation. In the past, like during the war, people had to unite around a common purpose. I sometimes wonder whether we’d be able to find that same unity again if we ever had to.

I wonder if somebody will come up with with rainbows or lavender or Christmas Trees or some such shite as an alternative.

Maybe we could stand on our doorsteps and bang a spoon or something.

If you went to another country and saw them flying their flag, would that make you throw up?

Devastated, nearly threw up, really.